Week 01 - CST363-30-2253- Intro to DB Systems

 Flavio Cervantes
May 6th, 2025
 CST363-30-2253
Learning Journal Week 01

  • Relational database tables and spreadsheets look similar with both having rows and columns.  What are some important differences between the two?
  • The important differences between the two is that databases have the ability for more robust queries, designed for enterprise level entries, can handle concurrent users connected and writing data more efficiently and reliability compared to a spreadsheet. As an example, regarding to how data is structured/relationships, in a DB, data is stored between tables using primary keys and foreign keys. (eg: A "ClassRegistered” can reference a "student" table through a foreign key.) vs. in Spreadsheets, they do not have native configuration to manage relationships between each sheet and require manually inserted formulas (eg: xlookup, vlookup, etc..)


  • Installing and configuration a database and learning how to use it is more complicated that just reading and writing data to a file.  What are some important reasons that makes a database a useful investment of time? 
  • Important reasons that make a database a useful investment is the benefits it provides such as efficiency with queries. SQL was developed around the logic of allowing complex queries to gather granular data being requested in an efficient manner that won't drastically affect the performance if done correctly, on the other hand spreadsheets require manually implement configuration to filter through data. Security is also an important reason to make it a useful investment of time, by having protocols in place such as user permissions, different methods of encryption and various levels of user authentication one is able to protect the integrity and sensitivity of the database compared to it being a flat file on the network. 


  • What do you want to learn in this course that you think will be useful in your future career? 
  • What I want to learn in this class is the ability to utilize and understand databases in the applications we create using android studio. Another subject I want to learn in this course is the basics of how modern enterprise level companies utilize databases, and how they manage them. One would assume that the grander the company, the more complex the architecture of databases and applications, by learning this information; I would find very great usefulness in my future career since I'll have a solid understanding and will be able to apply that knowledge into real-life scenarios or in the custom applications I plan on creating.
 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Learning Journal - CSUMB - January 6, 2025

 Greetings,     This week I learned about the campus of CSUMB, and how it was a military base before officially becoming a CSU in the mid 90's. The vision of our school is based on collaboration, teaching us skills that are essential for the modern workforce, and to provide the best possible curriculum with relevant technologies that will help us excel in our future, if we do our part and endeavor the challenges that Computer Science conveys. I also learned about the different ways to format APA style, depending if it is a website, book, or personal interview. At my previous schools, we would utilize MLA, so this is a great learning experience.  I also refreshed on the importance of plagiarism, and why it is extremely important to do on our work, even with all the tools we have such as AI, 3rd party websites, etc. The challenge I overcame this week was to have a deeper understanding of how Dynatrace operates, and all the different components that shape a successf...
Read more

Learning Journal - Week IV

     Educational Goals My education goals in the CS program are to strengthen my engineering foundational skills. I also want to strengthen my programming skills by expanding my knowledge in python and Unix. I am working on obtaining a stronger understanding in machine learning, artificial intelligence and software engineering. This will be accomplished by working on small scale assignments or projects that introduce me into these respective technologies.  Career Goals My career goal is to continue to promote within the company I am currently working at or to move to another company and take on a more challenging engineer related role such as an Architect III or  Software Engineer. Wild guess of your percentile of the ETS Computer Science test After viewing the ETS page, test description and sample test I feel that this test will challenge me greatly but is a great standard as a computer science major. The percentile that I feel I will obtain is arou...
Read more

Learning Journal - CSUMB - January 15, 2025

Image
      Lecture: Week 2 Learning Journal Post      Part 1: Review and Reflect Learning Strategy       The tops three areas that I am good at is to stick to my schedule, unless an emergency comes up, I like to stick to my schedule from the beginning of the day, until the end of the day. I am also good at studying when I have "planned" for it, I usually plan my studies in the evening and over my online educational journey, I have been disciplined enough to stay on track. Lastly, I am good at thinking skills, I can think critically, and come up with ideas or a desire to research something and learn about it. This ability is used in our everyday life’s, at home, while studying, and at work.  The top three areas that I feel I am weak in is where to study, sometimes it is easier to study at home but that is where I can easily get distracted at. I also feel that I am weak in is reading, sometimes when I am tired, it is hard to read all the m...
Read more