2nd In-Class Post
Well here I am again, posting from the Lecture Room B within the Frank Stockdale building...
Dr. Mohan relayed to us that he put up the list of blogs from different students...though my one isn't there yet, well that will be resolved shortly.
He also said that IT personnel has to be at the front of the technology curve...a bit of an obvious statement, but one that is very true, having seen some so-called "IT Specialists", that were clearly behind the times drastically in their knowledge.
Dr. Mohan then started to talk about how a lot of courses focus on the technology aspect, but how we still have to focus on the value of information, after all this course is based on INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY! One cannot have one without the other.
He then started discussing about the value of the attribute known as accuracy, with using examples about measuring the height of people, although people will be of different height, accuracy is still an important attribute. It was also looked at with regards to the authority of the site, how a source may not necessarily be unquestionably accurate...therefore, it is up to the individual to determine if the information is correct. One example he gave was with regards to the conflict in Israel, where the news stations often broadcast information that gives a skewed version of the events, and in actual, it was not quite as severe as how it was being portrayed.
After this short discussion, we started into the main topics at hand, continuing on from the previous day.
Characters can be used to form values such as names, addresses, phone numbers etc.
A field can be then created from a combination of characters.
After some requesting from the students for different sets of fields to use, he related the use of 3 types of data: Plain Text, Numbers and Dates.
When looking at different fields, the relevance to the various fields have to be considered. This is done by logical grouping of applicable data, that would be simply referred to as a record.
A group of related records will be referred to as a file.
Dr. Mohan then related the issue for if a number of various records are placed in one file, there would be confusion since the records don't necessarily work with each other directly, that some records are meant for different files. eg. Student records -> Student file.
A group of files together will produce a database.
Thus, the data hierarchy is as listed:
Bit->Byte(Character)->Field->Record->File->Database.
A description of how a form operates was discussed afterwards, as to how the user may fill in data within the fields on the form.
Well this is paused for now, will continue in 10 mins or so to move to room 113...
-Continuing-
We started with looking at the fact that an organisation will typically have several databases, each for a different purpose. An example was given for the organisation of UWI itself, with the presence of a student database, an employee database and a library database.
Looking at the example of the library database, records relating to books and their associated codes are kept, such that it can be even searched online.
A database can be stored in some storage medium, which is typically a hard disk, but can also use other media such as CDs or magnetic tape etc.
A question was then posed by the lecturer: How would you access the data within the database itself? A suggestion was given, to use some form of an interpreter...which was close, to the eventual answer of software. This software is referred to as Database Management Software (DBMS).
He also related that issue to using the Internet, how when a webpage had to be accessed, software (your web browser) would look for the page and load it on your screen.
Software can accomplish the following bits of information:
1) Query for data records
2) Insert Data
3) Update Data
4) Delete Data.
To manage the settings for a database, in terms of determining what a user can do to a database, a feature known as permissions must be applied. Permissions help to define to a database, what settings can be applied (or not applied) to a specific user, such that a regular user may not be able to modify certain details.
With that, we wrap up for today, so this is Kermit the Frog, reporting for....
*
I mean, this is SPK, reporting for my blog.
Until Monday everyone...
Dr. Mohan relayed to us that he put up the list of blogs from different students...though my one isn't there yet, well that will be resolved shortly.
He also said that IT personnel has to be at the front of the technology curve...a bit of an obvious statement, but one that is very true, having seen some so-called "IT Specialists", that were clearly behind the times drastically in their knowledge.
Dr. Mohan then started to talk about how a lot of courses focus on the technology aspect, but how we still have to focus on the value of information, after all this course is based on INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY! One cannot have one without the other.
He then started discussing about the value of the attribute known as accuracy, with using examples about measuring the height of people, although people will be of different height, accuracy is still an important attribute. It was also looked at with regards to the authority of the site, how a source may not necessarily be unquestionably accurate...therefore, it is up to the individual to determine if the information is correct. One example he gave was with regards to the conflict in Israel, where the news stations often broadcast information that gives a skewed version of the events, and in actual, it was not quite as severe as how it was being portrayed.
After this short discussion, we started into the main topics at hand, continuing on from the previous day.
Characters can be used to form values such as names, addresses, phone numbers etc.
A field can be then created from a combination of characters.
After some requesting from the students for different sets of fields to use, he related the use of 3 types of data: Plain Text, Numbers and Dates.
When looking at different fields, the relevance to the various fields have to be considered. This is done by logical grouping of applicable data, that would be simply referred to as a record.
A group of related records will be referred to as a file.
Dr. Mohan then related the issue for if a number of various records are placed in one file, there would be confusion since the records don't necessarily work with each other directly, that some records are meant for different files. eg. Student records -> Student file.
A group of files together will produce a database.
Thus, the data hierarchy is as listed:
Bit->Byte(Character)->Field->Record->File->Database.
A description of how a form operates was discussed afterwards, as to how the user may fill in data within the fields on the form.
Well this is paused for now, will continue in 10 mins or so to move to room 113...
-Continuing-
We started with looking at the fact that an organisation will typically have several databases, each for a different purpose. An example was given for the organisation of UWI itself, with the presence of a student database, an employee database and a library database.
Looking at the example of the library database, records relating to books and their associated codes are kept, such that it can be even searched online.
A database can be stored in some storage medium, which is typically a hard disk, but can also use other media such as CDs or magnetic tape etc.
A question was then posed by the lecturer: How would you access the data within the database itself? A suggestion was given, to use some form of an interpreter...which was close, to the eventual answer of software. This software is referred to as Database Management Software (DBMS).
He also related that issue to using the Internet, how when a webpage had to be accessed, software (your web browser) would look for the page and load it on your screen.
Software can accomplish the following bits of information:
1) Query for data records
2) Insert Data
3) Update Data
4) Delete Data.
To manage the settings for a database, in terms of determining what a user can do to a database, a feature known as permissions must be applied. Permissions help to define to a database, what settings can be applied (or not applied) to a specific user, such that a regular user may not be able to modify certain details.
With that, we wrap up for today, so this is Kermit the Frog, reporting for....
*
I mean, this is SPK, reporting for my blog.
Until Monday everyone...
posted by SPK at 10/05/2006 09:05:00 AM
1 Comments:
Hmm..maybe so sir, but it does come across like somewhat of a live report of the details of the class, so I do feel like Kermit now and then...(Starts singing It's Not Easy Being Green...) :).
But either way, I try to keep things covered as close as possible, because what I do is that I switch between typing notes and typing in the blog, so what happens is that when I'm typing up my notes, I'm trying to formulate how to relate that information to my blog...although I do believe that I still may miss some points at times, but I try to get in as much as I can...
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