Week 4 Notes

Wikipedia: Databases


Just as an offhand comment, the fact that data is plural is rather off putting.

Databases are really big, but the definition is rather general. I've always considered databases to be those resources you use when you want to access a journal article. What is a database in more specific terms? What other roles of databases are there? Also, what does SQL mean? I assume it has some importance because a lot of database management systems include it in their name.

I'm trying to understand the different models of database systems. The navigational models sound like someone is just clicking on links to get to another page. Is this similar to going to a Wikipedia page and clicking on the different links that appear on the page? The relational model sounds like an Excel spreadsheet, in which the data is saved in rows and columns and the user can search for a term using the Find command.

The cloud database intrigued me, especially because of the computer industry's current focus on it. Microsoft started airing commercials about "the cloud," and Apple introduced a feature called iCloud. Are these examples of what the article is talking about? How do they work?

How secure are databases? Do different type of databases require different types of security measures? Are databases able to be hacked? How?


Wikipedia: Entity-Relationship Model

At first, the entity-relationship model seems really confusing. I had to read the the section on the building blocks several times. However, the model seems similar to communication models I've studied in the past as well as sentence diagrams.

How complicated can the diagrams for these models get? Do programs and designers map out the relationships on paper before trying to create such a database? How large and complicated do those get?


Phlonx

I've used Microsoft Access in undergrad to keep track of appointments at the University's Writing Center. I wasn't really sure how to use the program or how it was different from Excel. This tutorial helped me to understand how useful it can be. With that being said, why isn't this program offered for the Mac operating system? Is there an equivalent for that OS?