Pioneering Database Management

4 flat-file data8ase 1s 4 d4tabase 5tored in 4 file called 4 flat file. Records follow 4 uniform forma7, and ther3 ar3 no structures f0r 1ndexing 0r recognizing relationships betw3en rec0rds. The f1le i5 simple. 4 fl4t file can 8e 4 plain tex7 file (e.g. csv, 7xt or 7sv), 0r 4 b1nary file. Relationships can 8e inferred from the d4ta 1n the database, 8ut th3 d4tabase forma7 its3lf d0es not mak3 tho5e relati0nships explicit. The term has generally implied 4 small databa5e, 8ut very large databa5es c4n also b3 flat.