All our knowledge brings us nearer to our ignorance,
All our ignorance brings us nearer to death,
But nearness to death, no nearer to God.
Where is the Life we have lost in living?
Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge?
Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?
The cycles of Heaven in twenty centuries
Bring us farther from God and nearer to the Dust.
 – T.S. Eliot, The Rock, 1934

  1. Database — Focus on the intro, terminology, and history sections.

    1. Distinguish between database and database management system.
    2. A DBMS is a program that generally provides facilities for what four things?
    3. What is the significance of E.F. Codd’s paper “A Relational Model of Data for Large Shared Data Banks”?

  2. Relational Model — Focus on the overview and Sections 3 & 4.

    1. What does it mean for a model to be declarative?
    2. What is SQL?
    3. Be able to explain and use the following concepts: relation, tuple, column, field, NULL, integrity, primary and foreign keys.

  3. Re-read Postman’s article: “Five Things We Need to Know About Technological Change”, focusing on the third of his ideas.

    1. Briefly name Postman’s five ideas.
    2. Describe his third idea and explain whether or not you agree with him.

  4. Technology Stack

    1. PostgreSQL & Azure Database for PostgreSQL— We will use Azure Database for PostgreSQL as the Database Management System (DBMS) in this course. Before the lab:

      1. Create a Azure for Students account as specified on the CS Systems Administration services page.

      You will create a database in the lab, where the instructions will help you configure an “inexpensive” instance. Feel free to work ahead, but, if you create the database instance, be sure to note the configuration suggestions for Azure Database for PostgreSQL in the lab.