* Characters: The most basic unit, representing a single symbol (e.g., a letter, number, punctuation mark).
* Fields (or Attributes): A collection of characters that represents a single piece of information about an entity. Examples include "Name," "Age," "Address." A field has a specific data type (e.g., integer, string, date).
* Records (or Tuples): A collection of related fields that describe a single entity. For example, a record might represent a single person, with fields for Name, Age, and Address.
* Files: A collection of related records. A file might contain all the records for all the people in a company.
The relationships between these elements are key. Fields are grouped into records, and records are grouped into files. The way these elements are arranged determines how easily data can be accessed and processed. Simple organization methods might involve sequential files (where records are stored one after the other) or indexed files (where an index helps locate specific records quickly).
Elementary data organization is the foundation upon which more sophisticated data structures and management systems are built. It's the first step in understanding how data is managed in computers.