meets Tuesday and Thursday from 0800-0915
office hours in Manning 112
Class Schedule
10 Jan | intro
15 Jan | clients
17 Jan | servers
22 Jan | networks
24 Jan | basics lab
29 Jan | structural layer
31 Jan | presentational layer
05 Feb | working with layers
07 Feb | behavior layer |
12 Feb | images & design
14 Feb | website lab
19 Feb | document markup
21 Feb | graphics
26 Feb | document markup lab
28 Feb | spreadsheets
05 Mar | formulas & functions
07 Mar | data display
19 Mar | database tools
21 Mar | spreadsheets lab
26 Mar |
relational databases |
Access- a RDBMS |
create a database |
next session
28 Mar | tables
02 Apr | relationships
04 Apr | input & output
09 Apr | SQL
11 Apr | complex queries
16 Apr | databases lab
18 Apr | presentation design
23 Apr | presentation delivery
25 Apr | presentation lab
30 Apr | 0800-1100 | final in class presentation
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A relational database is one in which you can store information in different tables,
each containing different information that relates to information in the other tables
a database is a collection of related data
a database management system (or DBMS) is a system designed for two main purposes
a flat file database is one where all the data is contained in a single table, such as in Excel
a relational database is one in which you can store information in different tables, each containing different information that relates to information in the other tables
an entity-relationship model (ERM) is an abstract and conceptual representation of data. Entity-relationship modeling is a database modeling method, used to produce a type of conceptual schema or semantic data model of a system, often a relational database, and its requirements in a top-down fashion. Diagrams created by this process are called entity-relationship diagrams (or ER diagrams)
One has choices in how to model the elements in a database. One of the standard textbooks on the topic (Elmasri, R., & Navathe, S. (2011). Fundamentals of database systems. Boston: Addison-Wesley.) offers a view of the several methods.
The purpose of a database is to store information about certain types of objects.
To make the distinctions clear, we will use a color schema in which we use
terms relevant to entity relationship models
and their correlates in Access
and, when appropriate, their correlates in Excel
ERModel entity set | Access table | Excel worksheet |
composed of entities | composed of records | composed of rows |
which have attributes | which have fields | which have column cells |
type | ⇒⇒⇒⇒⇒⇒ | ⇓⇓⇓⇓⇓⇓ |
ERModel entity set | composed of entities | which have attributes |
Access tables | composed of records | which have fields |
Excel worksheets | composed of rows | which have column cells |
An entity class [like books] is an abstract definition of something
an entity (like a textbook for INLS161) is a concrete example of that description
in Access, an entity is a record
An entity is composed of attributes
in Access, attributes are fields
attributes/fields include information we want in the database
attributes/fields help to uniquely identify individual entities within a class
attributes/fields can describe relationships between entities in different classes
An entity set is the list of given entities/records within a given entity class that are currently in the database/table
in Access, an entity set is a table
a Primary Key is a set of attributes/fields that uniquely identifies an entity/a record
a Foreign Key is a copy of the Primary Key
of one entity class/table that appears as an attribute/field in another entity class/table
and helps define the relationship between entities/records in the two entity classes/tables
these keys link together the related entity sets/tables in a relational database