CST 363 Week 01

 

1)    Relational database tables and spreadsheets look similar with both having rows and columns.  What are some important differences between the two?

    It has been a long time since I use spreadsheets such as Excel, and I do not have much experience with it. However, with database tables, I can extract certain columns as needed, rather than all columns in spreadsheets. Even though both need statements to extract data, database tables' statements are easier to use. In addition, both of them have different ways of reuse the statements. For spreadsheets, it is click and drag. For database tables, the statements can be modified easily as needed. 

2)    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?

    Database contains lots of data, and learning database can help with efficiency of algorithm, preventing performance's drop. Moreover, learning database can help with security and data recovery. In addition, learning how to install and configuration itself can help with convenience and efficiency in long term (less dependent on 3rd party).

3)    What do you want to learn in this course that you think will be useful in your future career? 

    

    My career is Software Design, specifically Game Design. Even though I plan to not make Online Game or working on database-related field, I will face it in my career soon enough. During the Winter break between 2024 and 2025, I worked on the Save File of my personal project, and that has connection with database. Despite only read and write database, I can already feel how database's knowledge can be useful. Security concern, choosing the right data to read and write, and many more I haven't discovered yet

    So, I hope that CST 363 - Introduction to Database grant me basic knowledge of understanding database, which can help a lot with Game Design career (such as Save File above). Moreover, if I have to study deeper or work in Database-related field, I hope this course help me understand and boost my confidence, so I can take on anything in the future.