MI4007 Week 02 Lecture 02 PDF

MI4007 Wk.02 Lec.02 Basic Database Concepts: The basic organisational tool in the database is the table which is organised into records and subdivided into fields. A key: A field that uniquely identifies the record. A relational database: A collection of tables from which data can be accessed in ma...

MI4007 Wk.02 Lec.02 Basic Database Concepts: The basic organisational tool in the database is the table which is organised into records and subdivided into fields. A key: A field that uniquely identifies the record. A relational database: A collection of tables from which data can be accessed in many different ways without having to reorganise the database tables. Designing good Databases: Must be reliable, consistent and have a suitable structure They are persistent, the structure is fixed The fields and data values are set so it is easy to add info without changing the structure Decide the structure before adding the data Types of Data: Integers Floating Point Numbers (Real Numbers) Characters Character Strings Boolean Values (E.g. True/False) Basic Database Design Rules: Choose fields wisely, if you have an undetermined number of entries, keep data on separate tables. Don’t use derived fields, e.g. you don’t need name field if you have ID No. Field Break down data into its smallest parts, e.g. Limerick, Ireland in 2 different fields Use clear, concise, consistent and detailed field names Always use unique field names and unique records. Use no spaces. Don’t use calculated fields in Access, export it to Excel Set a primary key field where there can be no duplicates or blanks, otherwise use auto numbers. Knowledge: The understanding of rules needed to interpret information. Knowledge workers are those whose main capital is knowledge. Explicit: Anything that can easily be articulated Tacit: Difficult to transfer, learnt abilities DIKAR Model: Data ---Info---Knowledge---Action---Results (can be reversed to RAKID) -of operational use-of strategic use- Wisdom: Evaluated understanding, essence of philosophical probing, using a mix of contextual information, values, experience and insight. References: Notes based on MI4007 Lecture Slides