Can anyone tell the difference between Data Dictionary and Meta data?

metadata: this is nothing but data about data.

for example: in oracle

desc <table name>
then what it displays is nothing but metadata. it means it gives feilds information,i.e nothing but metadata

but i donot know about data dictionary.can u gv wt it mean.

can u gv wt the diff b/w informatica 7 series and informatica 8 series

Metadata : Data about data is called matadata. Eg: Desc emp. The output is metadata. It has only the table structure description and constraints defined on it.Meta data is a subset of data dictionary.


Data Dictionary: This typically includes the names and descriptions of various tables and fields in each database, plus additional details, like the type and length of each data element. Data dictionary contains information that the DBMS requires to perform its functions and support its particular implementation.
NOTE: This is not universally defined.
Items typically found in a DBMS data dictionary include:

detailed descriptions of tables and fields
indexing information
referential integrity constraints
database schema definitions
stored procedures and database triggers
access control information, such as usernames, roles, and privileges
storage allocation parameters
database usage statistics


Regards,
Sun