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<p>[QUOTE="Suarez, post: 3495703, member: 99239"]You might not realize it but you're creating a paper database of sorts :- )</p><p><br /></p><p>In computer science a database is a collection of records made up of different data points. Each "point" is a <i>field</i> and a collection of fields, a data set, belongs in a <i>table</i>. Your numbering system is the record locator while your one table (so far) includes fields like the photo numbers, weights and so on which you're recording. </p><p><br /></p><p>A database becomes useful when you manage the data in such a way that you extract records and do something with them. You do this when you initiate a <i>query</i>. To continue with your example, you might retrieve your Roman Imperial coin records that don't yet have photos (to, say, work on getting them photographed). You do this subconsciously of course but to ask a computer to do this you use a type of code made up of commands. The most commonly used language is called SQL. And if you had these records sitting in a SQL database you would issue a command like</p><p><br /></p><p>SELECT * FROM `coins` WHERE ((category BETWEEN 2000 and 2999) AND photofield IS NULL);</p><p><br /></p><p>It's fairly straightforward. In the query above you're asking the computer to retrieve from your table named <i>coins</i> only those records that are between 2000 and 2999 while also filtering out all but the ones in that range that are missing a photo.</p><p><br /></p><p>I hope this isn't too boring. Databases have been a large part of my numismatic career and have become indispensable in managing collections, searching for needles in haystacks and providing deep data analysis. Like you, long before I ever considered computerized tools for these tasks, I had in my mind rudimentary schemes to corral in growing collections and attempts at gleaning some information of the can't-see-the-forest-for-the-trees type.</p><p><br /></p><p>I hope I don't come across as a geeky evangelist but I encourage you to take the leap into letting the computer do the heavy lifting because it really does make you more efficient at tracking the information you're after.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>
[QUOTE="Suarez, post: 3495703, member: 99239"]You might not realize it but you're creating a paper database of sorts :- ) In computer science a database is a collection of records made up of different data points. Each "point" is a [I]field[/I] and a collection of fields, a data set, belongs in a [I]table[/I]. Your numbering system is the record locator while your one table (so far) includes fields like the photo numbers, weights and so on which you're recording. A database becomes useful when you manage the data in such a way that you extract records and do something with them. You do this when you initiate a [I]query[/I]. To continue with your example, you might retrieve your Roman Imperial coin records that don't yet have photos (to, say, work on getting them photographed). You do this subconsciously of course but to ask a computer to do this you use a type of code made up of commands. The most commonly used language is called SQL. And if you had these records sitting in a SQL database you would issue a command like SELECT * FROM `coins` WHERE ((category BETWEEN 2000 and 2999) AND photofield IS NULL); It's fairly straightforward. In the query above you're asking the computer to retrieve from your table named [I]coins[/I] only those records that are between 2000 and 2999 while also filtering out all but the ones in that range that are missing a photo. I hope this isn't too boring. Databases have been a large part of my numismatic career and have become indispensable in managing collections, searching for needles in haystacks and providing deep data analysis. Like you, long before I ever considered computerized tools for these tasks, I had in my mind rudimentary schemes to corral in growing collections and attempts at gleaning some information of the can't-see-the-forest-for-the-trees type. I hope I don't come across as a geeky evangelist but I encourage you to take the leap into letting the computer do the heavy lifting because it really does make you more efficient at tracking the information you're after.[/QUOTE]
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