Class Journal Week 8

Hailey Ivanson

1. Reading the first sentence in section 5.1 I got all excited because that's exactly what we did! Data importation from a specified source. If other data storage methods are similar to Access, I would know what I would be looking at if shown data being stored on a computer now that I've seen how the FDA Drugs database looks on my end when imported to Access.
2. Importing the data and troubleshooting the occasional error messages made the most sense to me. The repetition was enjoyable, especially when I was able to solve my own issues.
3. I am not confident about how setting relationships should be done. I don't fully understand the relationship directionality, and had trouble interpreting the schema provided by the FDA.
4. I would love to learn more SQL functions to find the limits of what ca be done with this complex search method. I liked using SQL and would love to look into a LinkedIn learning course or something similar that focuses on just SQL for Access.

Hivanson (talk) 23:19, 13 March 2024 (PDT)

Andrew Sandler's Class Journal Entry

1. I feel that I do have a better understanding of how the data mentioned in the 5.1 article looks in its stored form.
2. I really don't think any part of this assignment didn't make sense to me. I'm not sure if this answer suffices but really it was pretty easy. There is a lot of online documentation on the different SQL Query commands.
3. I think most of what was more difficult for me was just getting the hang of which Access Ribbon different buttons are under. I felt like the data made intuitive sense. I'm not sure how I would have faired with the primary keys because of the issues the class ran into with the FDA's documentation. The other difficulty I had was just getting my virtual machine connected through lmu to my laptop to use windows.
4. I would definitely like to know more about how to use the tons and tons of data we have to actually organize the data in a way we find really helpful insights rather than just the basics which we had to do just to learn. So I think what I really mean is I am excited to be given a dataset that matters.

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Charlotte Kaplan

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 of What is Code?—Spotify music, Fitbit exercise tracking, Twitter tweets, IRS tax returns, etc.—might look when stored on a computer?

Yes, do feel that I have a better understanding of the data mentioned in What is Code. By doing this exercise and looking at how the FDA database stores information, I now see how other companies store their data.

Which part of this assignment made the most sense to you?

The part about loading data into Access and manipulating it using CHAR, VARCHAR, and INTEGER data types made the most sense to me because it seemed more straightforward and easier to follow compared to the other aspects of the assignment. The instructions for this part were clearer, and working with text and numerical data seemed more manageable for someone who is unfamiliar with databases.

Which part of this assignment do you feel least confident about?

The part of this assignment that I felt least confident about is creating the relationships between the tables in order to construct the queries. It took me a couple of hours to figure out how to establish these relationships properly, as the program was difficult to manipulate. Despite the initial difficulty, I eventually managed to grasp the concept and proceed with constructing the SQL queries. However, the process was challenging and required a significant amount of time and effort.

What would you like to know more about?

I would like to learn more about database design, query optimization techniques, and database management tools to improve the efficiency of creating relationships between tables and constructing queries.

Ckapla12 (talk) 19:26, 13 March 2024 (PDT)

Dean Symonds

1. Yes, I do believe I have a better understanding of how the article mentions the data in section 5.1. Now that I have worked with a relational database, even though it was a rather simple one, I do believe I understand what it may look like more, and I can only imagine how extensive such databases must be for something such as Spotify because of all of the tables that the music must require, such as the artists, record company, release date, etc.
2. The part of the assignment that made the most sense to me is importing the tables and establishing the parameters for each variable, and establishing the relationships. If felt like something that could be repeated relatively easily and something that formed a rhythm after awhile.
3. I feel the least confident about running queries to find certain things on the database. Because it required different syntax for each one, which many times was difficult to figure out what it must need, and it did not feel like there was a common pattern to be applied to all of the queries.
4. I would like to know more about how these databases are used in my daily life, I am aware of how these databases exist in my daily life, through student Identification, song titles or IDs, but I am curious to know more about what it would mean if these databases did not exist in my daily life and how it would make it more difficult.

Msymond1 (talk) 19:56, 13 March 2024 (PDT)

Natalija Stojanovic

1. I definitely feel like I have a better understanding about the data mentioned in the 'What Is Code' reading is stored. In the beginning, it was hard to understand however the more I worked with the database, the more I understood about how information is searched and stored.
2. The part that made the most sense to me was inserting the tables and assigning the different field types based on the schema. Since the process was similar for all the tables, it was easy to repeat the process.
3. I am least confident about imputing the SLQ and running the queries to search for things. In the beginning I thought I understood what I was doing because the first 2 were straightforward. However, and they got more complicated and relationships had to be established it was more difficult to get them to work. It was difficult to understand what needed to be input for it to work, for example, for some we had to use the '=' and for some the word 'LIKE', I didn't understand when I had to use which one.
4. I would like to know more about running queries and learn why different syntax is used in different types of situations especially when establishing relationships with two or more tables. I know that it is a powerful tool, however I don't think I understand when and how it could be used because I think that it could be a great tool to be able to use in daily life considering I have to keep track of all sorts of records for a number or horses.

Nstojan1-new (talk) 21:47, 13 March 2024 (PDT)

Katie Miller

1. Yes, I think I have a better understanding of the data mentioned in the article. Working with a relational database and defining relationships between the tables has given me a very basic insight on how relational databases operate. For very large databases like the ones in the article, I imagine there is a lot more tables and relationships that must be defined, but they likely operate in the same way as what I have seen.
2. Setting relationships between the tables made the most sense to me, as it was basically identifying which columns were present in multiple tables and then assigning that relationship. It made sense to me that if you had a question with two fields being looked at for the answers, even if one of the tables didn't have both fields the question was looking for, it could use its relationship with another table to find the final answers.
3. I had some trouble with running queries in the SQL format. I often struggled with determining what exactly I was looking for and from where, and what I should put after SELECT, FROM, and WHERE.
4. I would like to learn more about other database tools in Microsoft Access, because I feel like there is a lot I still have to learn. I would also like to learn about other ways to create a database other than in Microsoft Access.

Kmill104 (talk) 23:13, 13 March 2024 (PDT)