Should I rebuild my read only database every time I launch my server?

Question

I'm getting into web development, and I'm trying to get a grip on databases.
In an app I want to make, there is a read only database that will be filled up with a large amount of data, which will be the heart of the application, and also a lot of work to put in.
I'm uncomfortable with putting all this data into the database, as the database is "separate" from my web app code. I feel like I should rather write my data in code somewhere, and then have my application put the data into the database for me.
This way I would have my entire project written in code, and not an integral part of my software hidden away in the database, which is a bit complicated to work with, and seems difficult to move from computer to computer.
But is this a sensible way to do this, however? Should I write my data in code, and every time I launch the server, make the application drop all the tables and read them in from my code again?
Is this the wrong way to go about it? Would it cause considerable overhead? How do people do this?

Answer 1

Why are you uncomfortable in separating the data into a database? Don't you follow a modular approach when it comes to coding and separate the UI layer and the business layer? The data you are referring to, that many legacy applications will have at least
some of it embedded in the code in the form of constants, is an ideal lookup table data that should be stored in a database. 
>>>"This way I would have my entire project written in code, and not an integral part of
my software hidden away in the database, which is a bit complicated to work with, and seems difficult to move from computer to computer."
You can locate your database centrally and connect to it from any computer. The maintenance of your read only data in your DB is much more easier than embedding it in
the code
>>>"Should
I write my data in code, and every time I launch the server, make the application drop all the tables and read them in from my code again?"
This is totally unnecessary. If you will be entering a lot of read only data into your DB, you can have
a small utility program that provides an interface to enter the data into a DB - if you are uncomfortable with using the SSMS UI or TSQL to enter the new data. Also, reloading the data every time will only make your application look very slow and unacceptable. 
To summarize, store your data in a DB. Even it if is small application, you can start with SQL Express
edition to store the data as you will most likely need a proper DB in future if not now as your application functionality grows.
Satish Kartan www.sqlfood.com