CST363 Module 1

1. Relational database tables and spreadsheets look similar with both having rows and columns.  What are some important differences between the two?
• A few major differences between databases and spreadsheets are 1. Databases are often relational -- specific examples are using foreign keys within different tables that when updated, they update related tables. 2. Another difference is that Spreadsheets have less formatting requirements such as each column does not have to have a name or label, but in databases, every column must be labeled. 3. A 3rd difference between them is there can only be one entry of data in each attribute slot in a database while spreadsheets are not limited.
2. Installing and setting up a database and learning how to use it is more complicated that just reading and writing a file.  What are some important reasons for using a database rather than just using files to store the data?  
• Databases have more built in features to them that make them an overall more efficient way to handle data than just simply writing to a file. Some of these examples are that data is easily queried in a database, information can be easily related to other data sets, and databases are super scalable with large data sets.
3. What do you want to learn in this course that will be useful in your future career? 
• I would like to learn the common functionality and usages for common database styles and how to effectively link a database to other sets of code such as a java program.