Suhaib's CS Journal

  5 things I’ve learned so far: I’ve learned how to break down large, messy data into normalized tables using 1NF, 2NF, and 3NF to reduce redundancy. I now understand how to write proper CREATE TABLE statements with primary and foreign keys to enforce relationships and data integrity. I’ve gotten comfortable using basic SQL commands like SELECT , INSERT , UPDATE , and DELETE to interact with databases. I learned how to read and design Entity-Relationship diagrams, and how those translate into actual table structures. I’ve seen how indexes can make data lookups way faster, especially when dealing with thousands of rows. 3 questions I still have or need more clarity on: How exactly are indexes structured and stored behind the scenes? Like what data structures are used? What should I consider when designing a database for a really large or growing application? I still want to understand how database transactions work, especially when multiple users access or ...

  1. What is an SQL view? A view in SQL is like a virtual table. It doesn’t actually hold any data itself, it’s more like a saved version of a query that we can reuse. It works like a table since you can select from it just like any regular table, but it has some limits. A good example is that you usually can’t insert, update, or delete rows in a view unless it’s really simple and includes all the necessary columns like a primary key. It’s more useful for organizing or simplifying complex or complicated queries so you don’t have to rewrite them every time. 2. Comparing SQL to Java SQL and Java are pretty different overall, but they do share some ideas. In SQL, you use the where statement to filter results which is kind of like an if-statement in Java. And the select statement in SQL is like Java’s return statement as it tells the system what data to give back. But the big difference is that SQL is mostly about handling a lot of data like working with entire tables at once, while ...

  1.   Example of a non-equality join: We have a list of people and a list of products. We want to find out which products each person can afford based on their income. This join doesn’t use an equal condition. Instead, it uses a greater than ( > ) comparison. English sentence: Match each person with the products they can afford where their income is greater than the product's price. SQL query: select people.name, products.item, people.income, products.price from people join products on people.income > products.price; 2. Opinion on SQL as a language: I think SQL is pretty easy to learn when it comes to basic queries. The structure is simple and readable. But it can get tricky when joins, groupings, or nested subqueries are involved. Once you practice it starts to make a lot more sense as you're essentially just pulling data from databases and files. The SQL language is what makes this process of pulling data easy because of its simple syntax and logic.  Most ch...

  1. Differences between databases and spreadsheets: They might look pretty similar at first, but databases are way more structured. They have rules like primary keys and data types, and they’re built to handle a lot of data, multiple users, and complex queries. Spreadsheets are good for small tasks, but databases are better for anything bigger and serious. 2. Why databases are worth learning: It takes some effort to set them up and learn, but it's worth it. Databases keep data clean, organized, and secure. You can search through a lot of data quickly and make sense of it. That’s super helpful in real-world jobs or any big organizations. 3. What I want to learn: I want to get comfortable with SQL and really understand how databases work. I think it'll help a lot in any tech-related job, especially in backend development or data analysis which I am really interested in.