An Online Experience

 Hey everyone! I am back with an update to my online journey experience. We started a new course this term, CST 334. It was a quite exciting yet overwhelming week, I must say.       This week in CST 334, I faced several technical difficulties while trying to install and connect to the college server. Setting up my Linux account was a struggle, as I encountered various issues that made the process frustrating. It took a lot of troubleshooting and persistence to resolve these problems, but eventually, with the help and support of the IT department, I managed to get everything sorted out. Overcoming these initial hurdles was a relief and taught me the importance of patience when dealing with technical challenges.      Once I connected to the college server, I had to navigate the installation and use of a virtual machine, which brought its own set of complications. Configuring the virtual machine to work smoothly required careful attention. Despite th...

 Hey everyone,      This is the last week of CST 363. I am really happy with what I learned in this course. There were many new things I learned. First is learning the SQL language and how to use MySQL. This was a pretty cool thing for me, and I enjoyed coding this language a lot. It was my first time learning SQL and the professor's videos helped to understand the concepts, after learning them on ZyBooks. I also had fun doing the homework and lab exercises.       Secondly, I learned web application. It was really fascinating to learn how to link MySQL and Java to create a website. Again, I had never done this before so this was a really unique experience for me which I am sure will help me in the future too. It showed me how we can use different aspects of the two coding languages to complement each other in creating a website.      Thirdly, I enjoyed working in groups for the last two projects. My group was very accommodating and ...

 Hey everyone!      This week, I explored the differences and similarities between MongoDB and MySQL. Both databases are used for data storage and retrieval and support querying data. They offer ACID compliance for reliable transactions and have strong community support with plenty of resources available.      Despite these similarities, there are key differences. MongoDB is a NoSQL database that uses a flexible, schema-less data model with JSON-like documents, while MySQL is a relational database that relies on a fixed schema of tables and columns. In terms of scalability, MongoDB can scale horizontally, making it well-suited for large datasets, whereas MySQL typically scales vertically, which can complicate horizontal scaling.      When it comes to performance, MongoDB excels with unstructured data and offers fast read/write speeds. In contrast, MySQL is better suited for complex queries and managing structured data relationships. For ...

Hey everyone! This week was interesting. We learned about connections and how to use web database systems. We worked on a group project where we coded a program that helped update parts of a prescription. We learned about Application Programming Interfaces (API) and  how to apply them in our database. I learned how to link databases to a  URL and how to program for the web . We even had a peer review assignment for Lab 18. It helped me learn and identify where I went wrong.  It was a fast - paced but fun and interesting week. I hope to learn more in the upcoming weeks!

 Hey everyone! This week, I learned about something interesting called slow indexes. I found a helpful website called "Use the Index Luke," which talks about this topic. It got me thinking about how indexes work in databases. Indexes are tools that help databases find and retrieve data faster, similar to a table of contents in a book. They allow the database to quickly locate the information needed without searching through the entire table. However, not all indexes work well. The author of the "Use the Index Luke" page explains what a slow index is. Here are some key points: 1. Bad Design: A slow index can happen if it's not designed well. For example, if an index is created on columns that aren’t frequently searched or if it includes too many columns, it can slow down the system instead of speeding it up. 2. Maintenance Issues: Indexes need to be maintained, especially when data is added, changed, or deleted. A slow index might take too long to update, which c...