Database programs are pieces of software designed to store and codify large amounts of information. Typically, these programs have a “user-interface” that allows a user access to the database.

Databases are the material content one accesses using the database program. Typically, a database is information of a certain class or type.

An excellent example of a database that we are all familiar with is the library's database of all the works housed in the library. Each book (or other source work) has an individual record in the database, with "fields" that indicate the title, author, subject and so on for the work.