[database] What is the difference between a database and a data warehouse?

Check out this for more information.

From a previous link:

Database

  1. Used for Online Transactional Processing (OLTP) but can be used for other purposes such as Data Warehousing. This records the data from the user for history.
  2. The tables and joins are complex since they are normalized (for RDMS). This is done to reduce redundant data and to save storage space.
  3. Entity – Relational modeling techniques are used for RDMS database design.
  4. Optimized for write operation.
  5. Performance is low for analysis queries.

Data Warehouse

  1. Used for Online Analytical Processing (OLAP). This reads the historical data for the Users for business decisions.
  2. The Tables and joins are simple since they are de-normalized. This is done to reduce the response time for analytical queries.
  3. Data – Modeling techniques are used for the Data Warehouse design.
  4. Optimized for read operations.
  5. High performance for analytical queries.
  6. Is usually a Database.

It's important to note as well that Data Warehouses could be sourced from zero to many databases.