[GRASS-user] vector maps - help needed - part 2

[Wolfgang]

Hi all,

sorry, but I still don't understand the vector/database handling of 
grass completely. At the moment I use dbf files, but this seems not to 
be very flexible. It seems also that not all vector data is stored in 
the dbf files. When I import for example a shapefile into grass, are all 
nodes of the lines imported to dbf? I think no because I have an other 
folder on my computer which is called "vector" but what are the files 
"cidx,coor,dvln,head,hist,topo"?

As you can see, I'm really confused, what this database stuff is  for 
when all data is still stored somewhere else.

I hope that somebody can help me and explain me the idea of 
vector/database handling.

Thanks
Wolfgang