cutes those
statements.</p>
        <p>Relational databases operate on <span class="emphasis"><em>tuples</em></span>, or records, composed
of values of several different data types, including integers, character
strings, and others. Operations include searching for records whose
values satisfy some criteria, updating records, and so on.</p>
        <p>Virtually all relational databases use the Structured Query Language,
or SQL. This language permits people and computer programs to work with
the database by 