What's the difference between a Database and a DBMS? Database: Just the data itself - tables, records, files sitting somewhere DBMS (Database Management System): The software that manages the data Think of it like: - Database = Your music collection - DBMS = Spotify Why you need DBMS 1/ Raw data files can't handle concurrent users 2/ No built-in security or permissions 3/ Manual data integrity checks 4/ Complex queries require custom code Examples - PostgreSQL, MySQL = DBMS software - Your "users" table = Database SQL queries, user permissions, transaction handling = DBMS features Database is just data. DBMS is the engine that makes that data actually usable in applications.