Class Journal Week 6

Anu Varshneya

1. Based on what you have seen of the FDA database, do you feel that you have a better understanding of how the data mentioned in section 5.1—Spotify music, Fitbit exercise tracking, Twitter tweets, IRS tax returns, etc.—might look when stored on a computer?
2. Section 5.2 half-jokingly says that, by building a bookstore, you actually built the death of bookstores. You just built a drug database—have you actually built the death of pharmacies? What do you think of this analogy?
3. Section 5.3 says that the Java language can “talk to a database.” But you just “talked” to a database in this assignment. Why do you think you would need a programming language to do the talking?

Kristin Zebrowski

1. Based on what you have seen of the FDA database, do you feel that you have a better understanding of how the data mentioned in section 5.1—Spotify music, Fitbit exercise tracking, Twitter tweets, IRS tax returns, etc.—might look when stored on a computer?
2. Section 5.2 half-jokingly says that, by building a bookstore, you actually built the death of bookstores. You just built a drug database—have you actually built the death of pharmacies? What do you think of this analogy?
3. Section 5.3 says that the Java language can “talk to a database.” But you just “talked” to a database in this assignment. Why do you think you would need a programming language to do the talking?

Brandon Klein

1. Based on what you have seen of the FDA database, do you feel that you have a better understanding of how the data mentioned in section 5.1—Spotify music, Fitbit exercise tracking, Twitter tweets, IRS tax returns, etc.—might look when stored on a computer?
   • Working with the FDA database directly imparted a sense of how databases are structured and look when stored on a computer. Drawing upon this new knowledge, I can much more clearly imagine how companies that rely on digital data such as Spotify, Fitbit, and Twitter have their data structured on a computer. Although these companies all collect data in unique ways, the masses of data they acquire are more than likely funneled into large relational databases using code similar to how we imported the Drugs@FDA data into our own database. The primary difference would simply be in scale. As opposed to cleaning up one file and creating two tables, these companies are likely to constantly be importing large quantities of data and sorting them into accordingly large relational databases with many connected tables. This is the fashion that these companies' data likely sits on their computers.
2. Section 5.2 half-jokingly says that, by building a bookstore, you actually built the death of bookstores. You just built a drug database—have you actually built the death of pharmacies? What do you think of this analogy?
   • I do not believe this analogy applies to the creation of our drug database. In the case of Amazon, they built an online bookstore that offered ways to purchase either digital or physical copies of books that were previously only attainable at bookstores. Thus, they offered more flexible access to a slightly more versatile version of the same old product. Although Amazon could never directly replace the same kinds of emotion one gets when walking into a quaint bookstore, the ease of access they offered through the internet allowed them to take over the market. Although bookstores still exist and thrive for the unique experience they offer, building an online bookstore (Amazon) absolutely initiated the decline of bookstores. However, this case is fundamentally different from the FDA case. When building the drug database, we did not introduce an online version of the same product (access to prescription medications) that makes pharmacies invaluable. Instead, we simply built a way to access new drug information. Data regarding a drug is entirely different from the drug itself. Thus, we have not engineered the death of pharmacies, as our database in no way directly competes with them. All in all, I do believe this analogy is a good one though. Perhaps a better example would have been with building an online television/movie database (Netflix) serving as the death of DVD stores. I certainly remember all of the Blockbuster DVD stores I used to go to as a child going out of business because of this along with similar streaming technologies. In a similar fashion, offering products/services online certainly offers an ease of access that threatens to put stores that traditionally offered these products/services out of business. In the age of technology and urbanization that often renders cities nearly incommutable (like our beloved Los Angeles), anything that can replace a common time consuming drive with a few clicks on a screen seems almost fated to outcompete the former. We're even starting to see online grocery services thriving. It's certainly a slippery slope. Perhaps in a few years the analogy well be less of a joke and more of a reality.
3. Section 5.3 says that the Java language can “talk to a database.” But you just “talked” to a database in this assignment. Why do you think you would need a programming language to do the talking?
   • Although we "talked" to a database in this assignment, having a programming language adds a great deal of utility to interfacing with databases. In pgAdminIII, we could interact only with the database in isolation. However, when we interact with databases via a programming language such as Java, we bring the rest of the programming tools we have into the picture as well. Particularly, the interactions with a database might be more valuable when pipped into sequences of commands that could manipulate the data extracted into the database or easy the process of importing data into the database. For example, if we were given a way to talk to the database on the command line with UNIX, we could have directly imported the edited text file and then proceeded to manipulate the database all in one place. In addition to this, I get the impression that a good programming language would simplify the way in which the user interacts with the database. With a good standards library and existing code, perhaps simpler commands would be available to perform common database manipulations.

-- Bklein7 (talk) 11:25, 12 October 2015 (PDT)

Emily Simso

1. Based on what you have seen of the FDA database, do you feel that you have a better understanding of how the data mentioned in section 5.1—Spotify music, Fitbit exercise tracking, Twitter tweets, IRS tax returns, etc.—might look when stored on a computer?
   • Working it the FDA database helped me visualize what data looks like when stored. Before doing this assignment, I didn't really have a concept of how a database might be structured, but after working so closely with the data, I can see how various other companies might use this formatting. It also made me appreciate how much data can be stored on a computer, especially with so many different functions and applications
2. Section 5.2 half-jokingly says that, by building a bookstore, you actually built the death of bookstores. You just built a drug database—have you actually built the death of pharmacies? What do you think of this analogy?
   • I like the analogy as it applies to Amazon, which provided a much more convenient way to purchase things, such as books. I don't think that this analogy applies to everything. While it is true for many services, there are some things, like pharmacies, which still need some human interaction. It seems inevitable that many services will become obsolete due to computers, but certain industries (such as drugs) require more human intuition than simply purchasing a book, for example (I hope).
3. Section 5.3 says that the Java language can “talk to a database.” But you just “talked” to a database in this assignment. Why do you think you would need a programming language to do the talking?
   • I think a programming language helps simplify the process, especially if the data is in an unknown format or if you want to perform an action on the data regularly. Using an intermediate program allows the user to perform more functions, as well, making it easier and more efficient to manipulate the data. Programming languages are just another way to use a computer to perform a human activity more methodically and quickly.

Emilysimso (talk) 14:04, 12 October 2015 (PDT)

Josh Kuroda

1. Based on what you have seen of the FDA database, do you feel that you have a better understanding of how the data mentioned in section 5.1—Spotify music, Fitbit exercise tracking, Twitter tweets, IRS tax returns, etc.—might look when stored on a computer?
2. Section 5.2 half-jokingly says that, by building a bookstore, you actually built the death of bookstores. You just built a drug database—have you actually built the death of pharmacies? What do you think of this analogy?
3. Section 5.3 says that the Java language can “talk to a database.” But you just “talked” to a database in this assignment. Why do you think you would need a programming language to do the talking?

-- Jkuroda (talk) 14:37, 12 October 2015 (PDT)