hierarchical database

1 definition found

hierarchical database - Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (26 May 2007) :

  hierarchical database
  
     <database> A kind of database management system that links
     records together like a family tree such that each record type
     has only one owner, e.g. an order is owned by only one
     customer.  Hierarchical structures were widely used in the
     first mainframe database management systems.  However, due
     to their restrictions, they often cannot be used to relate
     structures that exist in the real world.