Class Agenda – 06/10/2014

1. Class Agenda – 06/10/2014 • Review logistics of course including course file placement/Where to seek help • Team Declaration • Present computer data organization • Explore files, folders, and libraries • Discuss the different levels of software available to manage data on a computer. • Explore the functions of a DBMS vs. an operating system to manage data. • Discuss the relative data management capabilities of a DBMS vs. a spreadsheet. • Introduce Access • Introduce MyITLab

2. Course Learning Process • Course objectives • Visualization methods; systems development process • Systems development tools: Access and Excel • Methods to learn material • Course lectures: concepts, exercises, questions • Book/MyITLab exercises: • Labs: in-class time to try out new and/or difficult Access and Excel skills/concepts • Outside of class: do book exercises not done in labs • Book material: • Explanation, concepts, detailed description • Methods to assess learning (and hopefully learn more…) • Homework and projects: • Apply instruction from tutorials • Create simulated “real” applications

3. Help available • Your books!!!! • Online help via Access and Excel • Google (or other favorite search engine) • Professor (Christina Hilfer) • Email: chilfer@unr.edu

4. Physical Views of Computer Data Organization & Access Conceptual I want to buy music on iTunes. I want to see if that shirt is available in blue in a size medium. Primary Storage/Main Memory Processor ALU Secondary Storage/Disk Data and Programs

7. Computer Data Organization Vocabulary Windows Library: View Folders Database Program Files Data Files Records Fields Bytes Bits

8. How does it work? Primary Storage/Main Memory Processor Data and Programs when they are being processed ALU Secondary Storage/Disk Data and Programs when they are not being processed

9. What is an operating system? • Examples: • Windows • Unix • Mac OS X • Linux • Definition: Set of software that manages a computer’s operations.

10. What does an operating system do? • Manage hardware and software resources: • Allocate main memory. • Direct processor activities. • Track all program activities. • Manage network connections. • Allocate secondary storage. • Move data and programs from secondary storage to main memory and back again. • Manage users

11. Moving data between primary and secondary storage Operating System MS Excel Firefox Photoshop MS Word Secondary Storage/Disk Primary storage/main memory

12. Organizing Files and Folders • A file is a collection of bytes that has a name and is stored in a computer • A file can store a “program” or “data” • Organize files by storing them in folders • Disks contain folders that hold files • USB drives • Compact discs (CDs) • Digital video discs (DVDs) • Hard disks • Each drive is assigned a letter

13. What types of data are stored on a computer? • Video, pictures, audio • Email • Web pages • Word processing documents • PowerPoint-type presentations • Structured data: Pre-defined formats such as employee, customer, student, registration data.

14. Understanding the Need for Organizing Files • Windows (and all other operating systems) organizes folders and files in an hierarchy, or file system • Windows stores the folders and important files it needs to turn on the computer in its root directory • Folders stored within other folders are called subfolders

15. Understanding the Need for Organizing Files and Folders

16. Developing Strategies for Organizing Files

17. Developing Strategies for Organizing Files • Type of disk you use to store files determines how you organize those files • Storing files on removable media allows you to use simpler organization • The larger the medium, the more levels of folders you should use • You should have a “backup”, or duplicate copy, of all files • Definitely all data files • All program files that you don’t have available in other forms (downloads, other media)

18. Exploring Files, Folders, and Libraries • Windows Explorer and the Computer window show the drives, folders, and files on your computer • Each has a slightly different view • A folder window displays the files and subfolders in a folder • Divided into two sections, called panes

19. Exploring Files, Folders, and Libraries

20. Using Libraries and Folders • When you open Windows Explorer, it shows the contents of the Windows built-in libraries by default • Libraries display similar types of files together, no matter where they are stored

21. Navigating to Your Data Files • The file path is a notation that indicates a file’s location on your computer G:\FM\Tutorial\Map.png • G: is the drive name • FM is the top-level folder on drive G • Tutorial is a subfolder in the FM folder • Map.png is the full filename with the file extension

22. Managing Folders and Files • Creating a folder • In the Navigation pane, click the drive or folder in which you want to create a folder • Click New folder on the toolbar • Type a name for the folder, and then press the Enter key

23. Working with Folders and Files • Moving and Copying Files and Folders • Moving a file removes it from its current location and places it in a new location you specify • Copying places the file in both locations • Naming and Renaming Files • Filenames provide important information about the file, including its contents and purpose • Main part of the filename • File extension • A filename extension identifies file type and indicates program in which file was created • Deleting Files and Folders • Recycle Bin is an area on your hard disk that holds deleted files until you remove them permanently • Files removed from a network drive do not go to the Recycle Bin!

24. Working with Compressed Files • Files stored in a compressed (zipped) folder take up less disk space • Allows you to transfer files more quickly • Extracting a file creates an uncompressed copy of the file in a folder you specify, while the original file remains in the compressed folder • Compression programs • WinZip • 7-Zip

25. What is a DBMS? • A set of software that facilitates storage and access of data on a computer. • Designed to work with a specific operating system. • Examples from vendors. • Microsoft products: Access, FoxPro, SQL Server • Oracle products: Oracle, MySQL • SAP: Sybase, HANA • IBM products: Informix, DB2 • Open-ish: PostgreSQL

26. What does a DBMS do? • Data structure maintenance: add, delete, change data objects. • Data maintenance: add, delete, change data. • Data backup and recovery. • Concurrency control. • Data access (query) optimization. • Security. • Distributed data management.

27. What does MS Access do? • Data structure maintenance: add, delete, change tables for data storage. • Data maintenance: add, delete, change data in tables. • Provide user-friendly tools for data access. • Forms. • Reports. • Integration with other software such as Excel.

28. Why do we store data in a database? • To protect the “integrity” of the data. • Make data accurate. • Reduce data redundancy. • To make data more accessible. • Enhance flexibility of data access methods. • Improve speed of data access. • To make an application more adaptable. • Provide more flexibility in application development. • Decrease dependence on a given visualization method.

29. What other software is available for data storage? • Word processing • Spreadsheets • Application programs • Examples: TurboTax, QuickBooks • Data storage: files, or enhanced file structures • Some application programs rely on a DBMS

31. Overview of MS Access • Data Management Software (not technically a database management system) • Has the following objects: • Tables: Object to store data. This is the only data storage object in Access. • Queries: Object to view data stored in tables. Can be used to filter data, reformat data, create calculations, create aggregations, create summarizations. • Forms: Object to enter data into a table in user friendly format. Also used to view data in a nice format on a screen. • Reports: Object to view data in a nice format on paper.

32. Database Vocabulary- 1 • Table: A two-dimensional database object used to store data. • Row: One “entry” of data within the table. Must have a primary key that has a different value than all other rows of data within the table • Column: A field used to store data. Must have a single data type. • Cell: An intersection of a row and column. Can only have one data type and one value.

33. Database Vocabulary- 2 • Entity (when implemented it is called a “table”): A person, place, or thing about which we store data. Example is a Customer for Belmont Landscapes. • Entity instance(also called a “record” or “row”): One instance of an entity that includes all data stored about that instance. Example is “Anthony Rodriquez row” for Belmont. • Attribute (also called a “field” or “column”): A characteristic of the entity about which we store data. Examples are Company, FirstName, Lastname for a Customer entity.