Session 7 Database Assignment

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Session 7Database Assignment

• What are theyandhow do we use them?

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WHAT IS A DATABASE?

• The most common image is that of a filing
  cabinet.
• Create structure to capture data (filing system)
  (table)
• Capture data (data entry)
• Pull information out of the data (query)
• Databases exist all around us
• UNCA student records,Federal and State income
  tax files,insurance records,medical records,
  and ERIC are examples of databases.
• Any compilation of information can be called a
  database.

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• The problem with databases is how to get the
  information we want from the volumes of data?
• This is where a Relational Database Management
  System(RDBMS) is needed.

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How Does It Work?

• Microsoft Access is a RDBMS with rows of records
  and fields (columns) of category information.
• Each row cuts across columns to create a set of
  fields.
• These fields, organized in columns, provide the
  common elements that we use to relate the records
  together.

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Example of Database Table
Field Names?
Record?
Record?
Record?
Record?
Field ?
Field ?
Field ?
Field ?
Field ?
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Flat verses Relational Database

• Flat-file databases are self-contained databases
  in a single table.

• Relational database are where a single database
  can be spread across several tables.

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Relational Database Example

• Three tables
• Blue line indicates relation by Student ID
• Green line indicates relation by Description

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Relational Database Examplein MS Access (showing
the three tables and a query)
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WHY NOT USE OTHER TOOLS?

• MS Word (tables) Application is text oriented.
  Table rows and columns are difficult to control
  and cross reference.
• MS Excel (spreadsheet)Application is cell
  oriented.Can create tables, but poor record
  management and limited cross-reference
  capability. Excellent for calculations

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WHY USE ACCESS?
Microsoft

• Application is record oriented.
• Easy to capture data.
• Can link large volumes of data together.
• Easy to ask questions of the data.
• Import and export capabilities(plays well with
  others).
• Wide variety of report formats.

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HOW TO USE ACCESS?

• For keeping records
• Making sense out of a large volume of information
• Looking for the connections

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In-class Database Demo (5 Records, 4 Fields)
Part of the 52 Record, 4 Field Database
Assignment (details on EDUC311 site)
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ERIC - Education Resources Information Center

• The Education Resources Information Center
  (ERIC), sponsored by the Institute of Education
  Sciences (IES) of the U.S. Department of
  Education, produces the worlds premier database
  of journal and non-journal education literature.
  The ERIC online system provides the public with a
  centralized ERIC Web site for searching the ERIC
  bibliographic database of more than 1.1 million
  citations going back to 1966. More than 107,000
  full-text non-journal documents (issued
  1993-2004), previously available through
  fee-based services only, are now available for
  free.
• http//www.eric.ed.gov/

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WARNING

• For your safety STOP NOW!
• Beyond this slide is GEEK stuff

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Energy pulls plugs on worlds largest database

• 04/15/04 By Joab Jackson GCN Staff The
  world will have to wait a while longer to see the
  first petabyte database. The Stanford Linear
  Accelerator Centers Objectivity database, widely
  acknowledged as the worlds largest, has stopped
  growing, just short of 900 terabytes, a victim of
  industry standardization within the scientific
  community. A petabyte is 1,000 T.

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Winter TopTen Program

• The Winter TopTen Program identifies the worlds
  largest and most heavily used databases.  The
  primary objective of this highly visible, global
  Program is to recognize the database
  practitioners whose achievements have advanced
  the boundaries of database size and power.  The
  Program discloses the products, platforms and
  architectures that support the leading
  implementations.  It also salutes the vendors and
  database-related organizations whose products and
  services are enabling the worlds biggest data
  repositories. 

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I will leave you alone now