DATABASE CHARACTERISTICS: The main characteristics that distinguish the database approach from the traditional approach of programming with files are given below: 1. SELF-DESCRIPTION: The database system contains not only the database itself but also a complete definition or description of the database structure and constraints. This definition is stored in the system catalog,Which contains information such as the structure of each file,the type and storage format of each data item,and various constraints on the data. The information stored in the catalog is called meta-data,and it describes the structure of the primary database. The catalog is used by the DBMS software and also by database users who need information about the database structure. 2. INSULATION BETWEEN PROGRAMS AND DATA: In traditional file processing,the structure of the data files accessed by an application is "hard-coded" in its source code. If,for some reason,we decide to change th