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B200 : : : T171 : : : T209 : : : T223 : : : TT28x : : : M206 : : : M358 : : : M360 : : : T396 |
M358 Relational Databases |
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Musings some years later: I don't think they do M358 now, and it's been replaced by something else. Although relational databases are pretty dull this course has turned out to be by far the most useful course I've ever done, so if you're thinking of trying the replacement, go for it! History: I've just heard I passed M358. Yippee! What a relief, too. Oh My God! The course is pretty much an uphill slog all the way and combined with T223 I had a hard time staying on top of the workload. On the other hand, it's a very useful skill, so I'm very glad I did it and I'd recommend it to anyone as part of a degree in computing. Be prepared for the worst though. Looking around the exam hall, I realised that, while I might have found it hard, I'd at least made it to the end. About half the seats in the hall were empty, so I guess there was roughly a fifty percent drop-out rate in the London region! A quick word for future students who haven't already been put off by the last sentence(!) - If you're like me, you'll probably want to download Sybase Infomaker to have a play and get familiar with the software before you start the course. That's a great idea, and you can do so from the Sybase site if you're so inclined, but BE WARNED that the course actually uses an earlier version, not the current one, and you will need to completely remove the current version from your system before attempting to use the M358 version. There is another thing to warn you about that, AFAIK, is not covered
in the course literature - at least, not this year . It concerns
the Relational Algebra System (RAS). What happened when I tried
to run the code provided was that I got a message...ummm...what
was it now? Something to the effect that it couldn't find any commands
in the window. I couldn't get the thing to work at all. I tried
shutting everything else down, fiddling with the syntax, uninstalling
and reinstalling, disassociating the file type (RAS) with its default
program (Paint Shop Pro thought it was a Sun Raster Image!) and
nothing worked. I found out from another student (Wayne Aherne,
who had had the same problem after changing some settings on his
own machine) that the problem stems from a conflict between RAS
and my graphics card. Ah well, anyway. Here goes with the linky goodness. General M358 SitesDatabase Systems and Structures : : : ODP database links : : : A Relational Model of Data for Large Shared Data Banks : : : Introduction to Relational Databases : : : "Against the Grain" - Fabian Pascal is a man with strong opinions about the relational model! : : : Webopedia - ODBC : : : Database Forums Software-SpecificDyna-text : : : Sybase Infomaker - online resources : : : Sybase Infomaker - ODP links : : : MS-SQL Server : : : Oracle : : : Woody's Access Watch : : : Postgre SQL : : : Access SQLIs SQL a Real Standard Anymore? : : : SQL Course : : : W3Schools Course and Quiz : : : First SQL - Issues an articles : : : Fluffycat SQL examples Relational Algebra/ Relational Calculus Relational Algebra : : : Relational Algebra in FOLDOC : : : Relational Calculus : : : Relational Calculus Wikipedia Databases for the WebMySQL : : : MySQL Tutorials (you have to register to access them and they're big downloads but there are some great movies here telling you how to set up Apache web server, PHP and MySQL on Windows. Well worth the effort!) : : : 4 Guys from Rolla (ASP and ASP.NET) : : : Web Developers' Virtual Library : : : SQL for Web Nerds Search For M358 Books |
Solution
1: Right-click on the nView icon in your system tray (