A
ABORT
In Teradata SQL, a statement that stops a transaction in progress and backs out changes to the database only if the conditional expression associated with the abort statement is true.
administrator
A special user responsible for allocating resources to a community of users.
C
column
In the relational model of Teradata SQL, databases consist of one or more tables. In turn, each table consists of fields, organized into one or more columns by zero or more rows. All of the fields of a given column share the same attributes.
D
DBA
Database Administrator
database
In Teradata SQL, a related set of tables that share a common space allocation and owner. This document uses the term “database” as the term for “table qualifier” (the object that contains data tables). This term varies depending on the database vendor, and might be referred to as “owner”, “schema” or “catalog” in the vendor's own documentation.
data definition
In Teradata SQL, the statements and facilities that manipulate database structures and the Data Dictionary information kept about these structures. These statements include CREATE, DROP, ALTER, and MODIFY.
Data Definition Language (DDL)
In Teradata SQL, the statements and facilities that manipulate database structures (such as CREATE, MODIFY, DROP, GRANT, REVOKE, and GIVE) and the dictionary information kept about those structures. In the typical, pre-relational data management system, data definition and data manipulation facilities are separated, and the data definition facilities are less flexible and more difficult to use than in a relational system.
Data Dictionary
In the Teradata Database, the information automatically maintained about all tables, views, macros, databases, and users known to the Teradata Database system, including information about ownership, space allocation, accounting, and access right relationships between those objects. Data Dictionary information is updated automatically during the processing of Teradata SQL data definition statements, and is used parser to obtain information needed to process all Teradata SQL statements.
data manipulation
In Teradata SQL, the statements and facilities that change the information content of the database.
These statements include INSERT,UPDATE,and DELETE.
DDL
Data Definition Language
delimiter
In Teradata SQL, a punctuation mark or other special symbol that separates one clause in a Teradata SQL statement from another, or that separates one Teradata SQL statement from another.
DOS
Disk Operating System
DNS
Data Source Name
F
failure
Any condition that precludes complete processing of a Teradata SQL statement. Any failure aborts the current transaction.
field
The basic unit of information stored in the database. A field is either null, or has a single numeric or string value. See also column, database, row, table.
H
HTML
Hypertext Markup Language
J
join
In Teradata SQL, a select operation that combines information from two or more tables to produce a result.
M
macro
A set of Teradata SQL statements stored in the database and executed by a single EXECUTE statement. Each macro execution is implicitly treated as a transaction.
N
name
In Teradata SQL, a word supplied from the user that refers to an object, such as a column, database, macro, table, user, or view.
null
In Teradata SQL, the absence of a value for a field.
O
Open Database Connectivity (ODBC)
Under ODBC, drivers are used to connect applications with databases. The Teradata ODBC driver processes ODBC calls from an application, but passes SQL requests to the database for processing.
owner
In Teradata SQL, the user who has the ability to grant or revoke all privileges on a database to
and from other users. By default, the creator of the database is the owner, but ownership
can be transferred from one user to another with the GIVE statement.
P
parameter
In Teradata SQL, a variable name in a macro for which an argument value is substituted when the macro is executed.
parser
A program executing in a PE that translates Teradata SQL statements entered by a user into the steps that accomplish the user’s intensions.
parsing engine (PE)
An instance (virtual processor) of the database management session control, parsing, and dispatching processes and their data context (caches).
Q
Query Capture Database (QCD)
A database of relational tables that store the steps of any query plan captured with the Query Capture Facility (QCF).
Query Capture Facility (QCF)
Provides a method to capture and store the steps from any query plan in a set of predefined relational tables named the Query Capture Database (QCD).
query
A Teradata SQL statement, particularly a SELECT statement.
R
request
In host software, a message sent from an application program to the database.
result
The information returned to the user to satisfy a request made of the database.
row
In Teradata SQL, the fields, whether null or not, that represent one entry under each column in a table. The row is the smallest unit of information operated on by data manipulation statements.
S
separator
A character or group of characters that separates words and special symbols in Teradata SQL. Blanks and comments are the most common separators.
session
In client software, a logical connection between an application program on a host and the database that permits the application program to send one request to and receive one response from the database at a time.
SQL
See Structured Query Language
statement
A request for processing that consists of a keyword verb, optional phrases, operands and is processed as a single entity.
stored procedure
Teradata Version 2 Release 4 and later supports stored procedures. A stored procedure is a combination of SQL statements and control and conditional handling statements that provides an interface to the database.
structured query language (SQL)
The abbreviation, SQL, is pronounced either see-kwell or as separate letters. SQL is a standardized query language for requesting information from a database. The SQL language consists of a set of facilities for defining, manipulating, and controlling data in a relational database.
supervisory user
In Data Dictionary, a user who has been delegated authority to further allocate database resources such as space and the ability to create, drop, and modify users within the overall user community.
T
table
In Teradata SQL, a set of one or more columns with zero or more rows that consist of fields of related information. See also database.
Teradata structured query language (Teradata SQL)
A multipurpose database language used for defining, manipulating, controlling, loading, and archiving data.
Teradata SQL statement
A statement in the Teradata SQL language that is processed through the Teradata Database.
title
In Teradata SQL, a string used as a column heading in a report. By default, it is the column name,
but a title can also be explicitly declared by a TITLE phrase.
transaction
A set of Teradata SQL statements that is performed as a unit. Either all of the statements are executed normally or else any changes made during the transaction are backed out and the remainder of the statements in the transaction are not executed. The Teradata Database supports both ANSI and Teradata transaction semantics.
type
An attribute of a column that specifies the representation of data values for fields in that column. Teradata SQL data types include numerics and strings.
U
user
In Teradata SQL, a database associated with a person who uses the Teradata Database. The database stores the person’s private information and accesses other Teradata Databases.
UTF-8
In simple terms, UTF-8 is an 8 bit encoding of 16 bit Unicode to achieve an international character representation.
In more technical terms, in UTF-8, characters are encoded using sequences of 1 to 6 octets. The only octet of a sequence of one has the higher-order bit set to 0, the remaining 7 bits are used to encode the character value. UTF-8 uses all bits of an octet, but has the quality of preserving the full US-ASCII range. The UTF-8 encoding of Unicode and UCS avoids the problems of fixed-length Unicode encodings because an ASCII file encoded in UTF is exactly same as the original ASCII file and all non-ASCII characters are guaranteed to have the most significant bit set (bit 0x80). This means that normal tools for text searching work as expected.
V
view
In Teradata SQL, an alternate way of organizing and presenting information in the Teradata Database. A view, like a table, has rows and columns. However, the rows and columns of a view are not directly stored in the Teradata Database, but are derived from the rows and columns of tables (or other views) whenever the view is referenced.