So there are two main different categories of modern database, and both can sort of can be related to spreadsheets.
SQL vs NoSQL
An sql database correlates fairly well with a spreadsheet, in fact I’ve used a Google Sheet as a no-frills sql setup. NoSQL databases, like Mongo or firebase, do correlate, but it takes a but more imagination as NoSQL is quite a bit more flexible in its definitions.
the spreadsheet file equates to the database, the complete dataset container.
a given sheet in that spreadsheet represents a table in that spreadsheet, or a collection in a NoSQL database, collecting all the things representing one set of data (for example, a sheet named employees might represent a table of the same name).
the data types for each column in a sheet (this column might be text, the next might be an id, represented by a unique integer): this might represent a schema, and in the world of SQL this would be defined when the table is created.
a document in NoSQL does equate to a record or row in an sql database, or a rowin a particular sheet within excel, representing one member of a given data set.
and finally, a model. Regardless of where our data has been stored, when we actually use that data, pull it out and manipulate it or manipulate a display based on it, that record becomes a “live model”. The record in storage represents the data, but the model represents that thing in an interactable state. Am example of that might be payroll - our employee hours might simply be records in a sheet, but when we model that data, it can be meaningful to the payroll processing folks.
Sure, i can try. The document is the saved snapshot of the data, a “moment-in-time slice” of our thing, whilethe model represents the exact same data in actual application.
Again, suppose we have a collection of employees. A single employee record (or document) represents all the data points for that employee. Id, name, pay rate, times in/out, earned personal time, start date…everything about that employee is represented in her days document.
But the data itself means nothing until we “model” that data. Times in/out are meaningless in the document, but when we pull that into a model in our app, we can then manipulate the model to transform those times to hours worked, overtime worked, personal time accrued, weekly pay…
The document represents a static version of the thing in storage. The model represents that same data in dynamic use in our application.