[Hidden-tech] suggestions needed for a relational database

[Chris Hoogendyk]

Keri Heitner wrote:
> I'm looking for suggestions for a cost-effective and user-friendly 
> relational database to be used for managing data collected for a 
> project involving a range of after school activities for school-age 
> students.

hmm. Haven't said much about the details of what you want to do, how you 
want to use it, or what your computer environment is.

that said . . . MySQL is open source and pretty much dominates the the 
internet when it comes to databases and back ends to web stuff. I don't 
know anything about MySQL on Windows, but on Unix/Linux/Mac it is easy 
to get/install and may already be there. You can access it from the 
command line and interact with it using sql, or there are any number of 
software tools or interfaces for interacting with sql databases. I 
recently began using Navicat, and, as a long time Mac user, found it 
unbelievably natural and easy to use. It's a commercial application, but 
the single user license is really inexpensive, and it is available for 
Windows/Mac/Linux. Typically, the Windows version is a bit ahead of the 
others. Anyway, I got into it because one of the labs here was using it 
to manage their data, and I felt I needed to have it to be able to help 
them when they had trouble accessing the databases on my servers. I had 
no trouble just picking it up and using it, and found that it made my 
task of managing all those databases much easier. It has everything, 
including simple tools for backing up your databases.

I'll presume you are familiar with relational databases and their 
layout, in terms of records, relations, indexes and so on. That's a 
whole 'nother topic. But, then, if your project is not too large, it 
shouldn't be a big deal.


-- 
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Chris Hoogendyk

-
   O__  ---- Systems Administrator
  c/ /'_ --- Biology & Geology Departments
 (*) \(*) -- 140 Morrill Science Center
~~~~~~~~~~ - University of Massachusetts, Amherst 

<hoogendyk at bio.umass.edu>

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Erdös 4