Databases Part II: Querying in the Real World Thursday, October 13th, 2016 – 6:30-8:30pm
Databases are a ubiquitous piece of software on our personal computers and on the internet. They enable the storage of data in such a way that we can access it in a reliable and robust way. One of the most important types of databases are “relational databases” that store data in structured tables and provide users access to the data through SQL, a querying language which allows us to filter, sort, and combine our data. This workshop will build on the basics of SQL covered in Databases (Part 1) on Oct. 4th. We will use a sample MySQL database from a WordPress website to reveal some of the many secrets to the magic of the Internet. We will begin by inspecting the database schema, examining how the “relationships” of a “relational database” are specified and maintained as we add and remove data. Having better understood the layout of an actually existing database, we will proceed to query the data, asking questions like “how many posts has each user created” and “which post had the most comments.” The topics covered in this workshop are applicable across different SQL implementations, including MySQL and PostgreSQL. If you are unable to attend Part 1 of this series, please look through this tutorial: https://digitalfellows.commons.gc.cuny.edu/2016/04/08/fun-times-with-sqlite-or-a-beginners-tutorial-to-data-management-and-databases-with-sql/
Participants are encouraged to bring their own laptops.
This workshop will be hosted by GC Digital Fellows Tahir Butt and Ian Phillips.
Image Creative Commons via Flickr user Olivier
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