A database against the rules

In my previous blog I noted that I had restarted work on my database. In this post I'd like to talk a bit about database design and construction.

I'm guessing that most of my readers who are interested in data will fall into one of a very small number of categories. The first is a professional DBA who is either interested in seeing how other DBA's do things, or possibly here just for a laugh. The next might be someone tasked with throwing together an ad hoc database with a good amount of existing data, and presenting it in an easily digestible format without creating all sorts of dashboards,relationships, tables, etc. I'm certain there are many other scenarios which may pique one's curiosity, but my aim in documenting my journey is to stimulate an appreciation for and a desire for the application of data.

*For database neophytes: please tread carefully. A long time ago, I read something someone wrote that stuck with me: they said that a great database design starts on paper. So, unless you're like me and can "see" what your database will look like (and/or have built similar databases), design your database first, then start coding. 

Every database has a raison d'être. It's highly unlikely that anyone would wake up one day and say, "Hey, a database of all of the dry pasta in the house would be useful!" Obviously not... I think! (For the record, if you ABSOLUTELY need something to keep track of your pasta, a barcode scanner (or smartphone scanner app) and a spreadsheet would probably be a better solution.

When I was in high school, my appetite for data was whetted by my love of music. Personal computers were just starting to come on the scene, and I didn't even know what a spreadsheet was. Everything I did was done in ink on looseleaf paper. After a while, I graduated from just cataloging my music to staging popularity polls with friends and acquaintances. Quite surprisingly, most of them objected to my methodology, which was quite simple, and leveled the playing field. It worked like this:

A person could vote for up to ten songs and ten albums.I made sure to tell them to rank their choices by most favorite, then next most favorite, etc., so that the top song on a ballot would receive 10 points, the next 9, etc. My reasoning was this: just because 10 voters like Hey Jude, not all like it equally, and the vote should be weighted accordingly. 

For some reason, no one liked that idea.

But that, for me, was the start of databases. Stay tuned!

As always, I am hochspeyer, blogging data analysis and management so you don't have to. 

On subject matter 05.28.14

I'm currently writing two blogs, one here and one on Wordpress (hochspeyer.wordpress.com). It's days like today that tend to drive a writer just a bit sideways, because even though there is nothing in the way of compensation involved in these writing projects, I still feel a certain compulsion to get a certain volume of work out each calendar month... because even thought we might hate to admit it, at its heart blogging is a numbers game.

And that's a problem when you're trying to write for a blog which has a theme, but for which you have absolutely no pertinent subject matter for your post. However, in the frenzied world of publish or perish- which is the internet as many bloggers may know it-publishing something can sometimes be better than nothing.

So, here I sit in the Secret Underground Lair. To my right, a single-player game of Civilization V is being played. My phone has the mobile version of Words with Friends going, Windows Media Player has just finished sorting songs (in descending order) according to number of plays (James Brown's The Old Landmark from The Blues Brothers movie is currently playing). 

The casual reader might infer from the photograph that right now I'm doing more photography than data, and honestly, the reader would be correct. Still, as long as I'm writing, there's data to be had. While my Wordpress blog is still in its infancy and slowly gaining something of a following, the blog you are reading right now has expanded its international presence, adding readership in India and Lithuania. This gives the blog readers in forty-three countries!

So that's going to be a wrap for my Blogspot posts for the month.

As always, I am hochspeyer, blogging data analysis and management so you don't have to.

Data in the blogosphere

I had to take a look at my blog dashboard tools to make sure I had introduced my photography blog. It seems like forever, but it was only last week in my Training, Interrupted blog that the new blog was introduced. I've been fairly busy in the intervening week, mounting photographic adventures and then recapping them at hochspeyer.wordpress.com.

While visiting Wordpress this morning, I ran across a featured blog that spoke to me-
http://en.blog.wordpress.com/2014/05/20/stats-to-check/

That blog is all about stats. Specifically, stats that Wordpress provides to members of its blogging community. The piece was short and to the point but it brought me back here, because here is where I talk data, and there is where I talk photography.

What I find most interesting about Wordpress analytics is while they are fairly deep, they are free. Now, despite the fact that their analytics rock, I'm not suggesting anyone abandon Google Blogger. If you're reading this, its possible that you, also, have a Google blog. I've got some regular readers all over the globe- I can't see myself moving away from Blogger for that reason alone.

Another interesting concept of the blogosphere is that YOU (or, more specifically, your digital output) is YOUR brand. A long time ago (in internet time), I chose "hochspeyer" to be my internet persona, or brand. Apart from the Steam community, online I am hochspeyer wherever I go. I have created a brand and a presence that far outreaches the village where Jennifer and I lived in Germany. Its been so good to me I have established it as both my Google+ and Wordpress identity.

The picture above is what got me back into photography. The water droplets on top of the grass are actually being secreted by the grass. I took the shot with a cell phone, and remember after taking it thinking, "I can take pictures- I just need a real camera."

That's all for now. As always, I am hochspeyer, blogging data analysis and management so you don't have to.

*...and for those who like a good photo or two, please visit my Wordpress boog, hochspeyer.wordpress.com ,,, one f-stop short of a six-pack.

Like Data, we are- in an I.T. sense- fully functional.




Three PC's

 

Today was a severely and serenely eventful day. I actually had to search for Lt. Cmdr. Data's quote- I thought it was from the movie "Insurrection," but it was actually from "Star Trek: The Next Generation season 1 episode 3, in which Tasha Yar sexually assaults Data.

I'l bet ya never thought of it that way!

Anyway, in recognition of the contribution that Star Trek has made to what passes for a geek "community" (I used quotation marks because the naturee of the geek comunity often reminds me more of Sandra Bullock in "The Net" rather than an actual community), I have for the tme being named our "fully-functional" PC's that have found their home in our secret underground lair. PC #1 is named LANDRU, and PC #2 is named VEE-JER, of course. These are definitely Nimoy, and not Shatner, PC's. Captain Kirk just has a way of hosing things up... well, when he's directing the movie, at least.



So anyway, two (relatively) new PC's have been added to the network. One is an XP machine; the other is a 7 box. There is a third which will eventually be a Linux box (we think). All are HP boxes- top one is a DC7600 (Win7, 1TB HDD, 4GB), under it is the "new" DC7800 (Win XP, 500GB HDD, 4GB), and the one to the right (with the K&N decal) is an XW4200 workstation (OS TBD- probably Ubuntu and some iteration(s) of Windows; I don't remember what HDD is in there, 4GB) The display is a Gateway FPD 1730, which has been around for some time. Very highy rated when it was young, it still gets the job done. Tying the PC's together is a Trendnet 2 port TK-209K KVM. I bought the KVM (keyboard/video/mouse switch- electronic) a year or so ago, but never got around to installing it. Lava Lamp® is on top of the PC stack, but not in the picture. Lastly, in the upper right of the photo there's an A-10 Warthog, most likely keeping Soviet-era T72's at bay.





Now that there are a plethora of PC's to use, I may be able to finally get back to more development work on the database, and start doing some programming, although #2 son noticed that both PC's were online, and reminded me thst this IS the Secret Underground Lair, and he might need to install Steam on one (or 3-4 PC's- there's another one waiting in the wings... another KVM might be warranted) of them. I'm starting to think maybe we can do some experimentation with 64-bit systems- probably on the workstation.

Right now the database is very music focused. As I write this, I have Windows Media Player running, and I have the entire thing sorted by number of plays, most to least. Tonight's featured cutoff date is Dec 5, 2012- any song that has a Last Played Date that falls on or before that date gets played. Right now, Barry Manilow is crooning "This One's For You". Tonight was the first time I think I truly realized how much a part of the 70's music scene Barry was.  

Okay, hard data. Between the last time I took a count (12.04.12) and the most recent count (01.14.13), the number of tables remained constant at eleven, and 161 records were added. Somewhat impressive, especially since I'm very definitely not the swiftest on the keyboard, but that only comes out to a .2961% increase.

Lastly, I started a temp day assignment this past Monday. It's an association, non-profit, which is a first for me. I'm helping to put together year end reports, and so far it's been a blast. The culture of this organization is fairly mind-blowing: it is not top-down management and directives (at least, it isn't in the area I'm in), and my input is valued and sought after, not only because they're fairly good, but because I'm an outsider looking in with a fresh set of eyes.