What is the main purpose of a database management system (DBMS)?

The primary purpose of a database management system (DBMS) is to manage database creation, maintenance, and manipulation. A DBMS serves as an intermediary between users and the database, handling how data is stored, retrieved, and updated. This capability is crucial for ensuring data integrity, security, and consistency.

In the context of database design, a DBMS enables users to create databases, define their structure (using schemas), and manipulate data through various operations such as query processing, data retrieval, and updating. These functions also include ensuring that the database adheres to certain constraints and maintains relationships between different pieces of data, which is fundamental for relational databases.

While graphical user interfaces are helpful for user interaction, they are not the main purpose of a DBMS. Similarly, encrypting sensitive data is an important feature that can be integrated into a DBMS but does not encompass the overall function of managing databases. Developing application software may interact with a DBMS, but it is outside the core responsibilities of the DBMS itself. Therefore, the main purpose centers on comprehensive database management, which is what option C accurately describes.