DBMS: Data Independence (Definitions)

[logical *:] "Application programs and terminal activities remain logically unimpaired when information preserving changes of any kind that theoretically permit unimpairment are made to the base tables." (S. Sumathi & S. Esakkirajan, "Fundamentals of Relational Database Management Systems", 2007)

[physical *]"Application programs and terminal activities remain logically unimpaired whenever any changes are made in either storage representation or access methods." (S. Sumathi & S. Esakkirajan, "Fundamentals of Relational Database Management Systems", 2007)

"A condition that exists when data access is unaffected by changes in the physical data storage characteristics." (Carlos Coronel et al, "Database Systems: Design, Implementation, and Management 9th Ed", 2011)

"Data independence is the characteristic that enables data to be easily combined into usually unlimited number of different structures." (Michael M David & Lee Fesperman, "Advanced SQL Dynamic Data Modeling and Hierarchical Processing", 2013)

"A condition that exists when data access is unaffected by changes in the physical data storage characteristics." (Carlos Coronel & Steven Morris, "Database Systems: Design, Implementation, & Management"  11th Ed., 2014)

"The isolation of data from the use of the data such that a change to one does not affect the other." (George Tillmann, "Usage-Driven Database Design: From Logical Data Modeling through Physical Schmea Definition", 2017)

"Data independence is a database management system (DBMS) characteristic that lets programmers modify information definitions and organization without affecting the programs or applications that use it. Such property allows various users to access and process the same data for different purposes, regardless of changes made to it." (Techslang) [source]

"The property of being able to change the overall logical or physical structure of the data without changing the application program's view of the data." (GRC Data Intelligence)

"The degree to which the logical view of a database is immune to changes in the physical structure of the database." (IEEE 610.5-1990)