1. See if you can install the recommended relational database (SQLITE3) on your own computer and load in the IMDB snapshot.
2. Think of some answers to the wide-angle question sheet below, but do not submit written answers, just be ready to present your answer to the others during the supervision.
3. Study the https://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/teaching/2324/Databases/relational.html.
4. Consult Paper 3 from 1997 (linked below) and do question 11 about mountain climbing. Use a relational schema as your data description language and read 'he' as `they'.
These quick questions span topics much wider than the syllabus for part Ia Databases. They can serve to set the scene and kickoff supervision discussion, but please do not spend much time on them.
WRQ1. What is non-volatile storage? Why do most databases use it? When might it not be used for a database?
WRQ2. Why is DBMS support useful where times and dates are stored?
WRQ3. Give an example of a many-to-many relationship that occurs in the real world (and is not an example straight from the lectures).
WRQ4. Is it a good idea to use somebody's full name as a database key? If so, might it be best to hold it as one field (attribute) or should separate parts of the name be stored in different fields?
WRQ5. Human-perceivable colours can be denoted in many forms using words and various numeric colour spaces. Is it a good idea to use a general-purpose database to map from one form to another?
WRQ6. Computer power has greatly increased over the decades. Estimate the amount of data the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency in Swansea UK needs to hold. Estimate the number of queries and mutations of its data that happen per minute. Can the computer in your pocket handle this workload? Does the DVLA still require a 16-story building to do its data processing?
WRQ7. The databases we consider in this course largely use discrete data and identity (equality) for key matching. How different does a geo-spatial database need to be, where much of the data stored is polygons (representing plots of land, pipeplines, counties etc.) and the queries involve more than identity?
WRQ8. Have a look at the syllabus for the Part Ia ML-&-Real-World-Data course. What key words or phrases might you use to distinguish the topics?
(C) 2022 DJG. END.