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Showing posts from May, 2025

CST 363 Week 3

What is an SQL view. How is it similar to a table? In what ways is it different (think about primary keys, insert, update, delete operations) ? a sql view is a temporary table that is built from the results of a select query and can be used similarly to a regular table with some differences. A few limitations of a view table is that there is no data stored to the table itself, as the table is created only from retrieved information. Additionally there is no primary key functionality. We have completed our study of SQL for this course. This is not to imply that we have studied everything in the language. There are many specialized features such as calculating rolling averages, query of spatial data (data with latitude and longitude) coordinates, and more. But take a minute to think about how SQL compares to other programming languages such as Java. What features are similar , and which are present in one language but not in the other? For example, Java has conditional if statemen...

CST363 Week 2

SQL has the flexibility to join tables on any column(s) using any predicate (=, >, < ). Most of the time the join will use equality between a primary and foreign key. Think of example where joining on something other than keys would be needed. Write the query both as an English sentence and in SQL. If you can't think of your own example, search the textbook or internet for an example. An example of joining tables could be finding and listing games on a specific console that are developed by a specific studio (Rare). With one table for developers and another for all games on a specific console (GameCube). select gc.game_title as GameCubeRareGame from Games_GameCube gc  join Developers d on gc.developer_id = d.developer_id  where  d.developer_name = 'Rare' ; What is your opinion of SQL as a language? Do you think it is easy to learn and use? When translating from an English question to SQL, what kinds of questions do you find most challenging? I am very h...

CST363 Week 1

Relational database tables and spreadsheets look similar with both having rows and columns. What are some important differences between the two? Relational databases use a schema which defines the structure for how the data is stored. Relational databases also use foreign and primary keys to help manage data. Relational databases also can query which allows a user to search for data on tables efficiently. 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? Relational databases can help with efficient searching by using the query system and indexing. They also provide more safety to guarantee data is not manipulated in error or stored incorrectly. What do you want to learn in this course that you think will be useful in your future career? Becoming proficient in database manipulation is infinitely useful for a career in dev...