Getting Into Databases

This week was mostly about getting set up and getting into the flow of CST 363: Introduction to Database Systems. Our first lab focused on making sure we had all of the tools we’ll need for the course, including Docker, pgAdmin, and a Python virtual environment. I already had most of the software installed from previous projects, so my setup was pretty quick. Most of my time went toward updating what I already had and creating the virtual environment specifically for this course.
After the setup, we started getting into the actual database material. We covered relational algebra along with DDL and DML, which helped connect some of the terminology to what we were actually doing in SQL. Lab 2 was our first real SQL lab, where we started writing queries and working with relational data more directly.
Some of the tools and SQL concepts are familiar from things I’ve worked with before, but I’m looking forward to getting more comfortable with the database theory behind them and seeing how much deeper we go over the next eight weeks.