GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS AND SELECTION OF A DATABASE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM IN DISTANCE LEARNING

The relevance of studying the discipline "Databases" for students of computer and engineering specialties is determined and their special needs and emphasis in learning are shown. The definition of the data model stored in the database is given. The features of the relational data model are considered, the main advantage of which is simplicity and accessibility for the user to understand and the availability of a fairly simple and at the same time powerful mathematical apparatus of set theory and relational algebra. The main educational elements of studying databases based on the relational data model are highlighted. The client-server architecture of modern DBMSs is described. The advantages of client-server technologies in the process of learning to work with databases are noted. The results of the study of the functionality of existing software products for working with databases have shown the expediency of choosing MySQL Community Edition as a training tool, which is free and in its functionality is not inferior to commercial systems by any criteria. The disadvantages of the system, which include some limitations when executing complex queries and creating analytical reports that require a high load and a large number of simultaneous queries, are not critical for training purposes. The MySQL server can be accessed both from a console client running any of the modern operating systems and from many GUI clients. The paper describes the software product MySQL Workbench Community Edition, which is offered by Oracle for free use both as part of the MySQL server and as a separate GUI client. As a result of the study, it was concluded that the free MySQL Community Edition DBMS together with the MySQL Workbench Community Edition GUI client fully develops the competencies of students of both engineering and computer specialties in working with databases and can be used in the study of the educational component "Databases" in the context of distance education.