Chapter 2. Starting Your Force Platform Application

Data is the foundation of all information systems. Decades ago, the area in which we work was referred to by the name of ‘data processing’, pointing back to the primacy of data in the overall scheme of things. The term ‘information systems’ points to the value of the information extracted from that data and the larger systems used to work with that data. Even though the growth of information systems is explosive, these systems are simply the tip of the iceberg, floating over large seas of data.

This chapter introduces you to the ways in which data is stored and accessed by applications on the Force platform, and how the platform uses your data to automatically build functionality for your applications.