[PLUG] Database question

Tim Bruce - PLUG timb at tbruce.com
Thu Jul 2 21:46:09 UTC 2009


On Thu, July 2, 2009 14:27, Amy Kelly wrote:
> Being currently unemployed like most of PDX, I'm volunteering at a
> place called Rosehaven - http://www.rosehaven.org - and besides having
> the grand chance to randomly sit and knit and crochet with some cool
> ladies, there's a project that I'd like to do for them that would be a
> benefit for me and my resume. I've been a support monkey for a long
> time and haven't learned much more than the very basics needed to know
> if something isn't working correctly in a database. I feel like I'm
> not getting as many hits on the resume as I could be and if I knew SQL
> and such better it'd help since most of the support jobs seem to want
> that, and I'd like to go into QA eventually.
>
> Mostly for my own education, I want to set up a database that would
> track names, addresses, contact numbers and email addresses, and hours
> worked monthly and be able to pull it into a report every quarter,
> plus be easier to keep updated than their current paper system. I know
> you can do this all on a spreadsheet and I'll likely draft it that
> way, what I'm curious about is which tools would be good for this as a
> relational database?  I'd say they have between 100-200 active people
> that would be in it with summer kids and practicum students and such
> included. I'm not interested yet in making it into a login-type
> tracking system because I think that would be too much for them to try
> to maintain, but something that the sign-in sheets would be imputed
> into at the end of the day or the week. I don't want to reinvent the
> wheel, but I do want to try to learn how to set this up by myself.
> Thanks.
>
> --
> Amy Kelly // engagedtone at gmail.com
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> PLUG at lists.pdxlinux.org
> http://lists.pdxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug
>

Amy,

This depends on how much work you want to put into it....A front-end
application plus database?

That said....there is a VERY active PostgreSQL users group in town (full
disclosure - yes, I'm a member as well) that can help you with some of
this.

The database design sounds very simple on the initial pass at
requirements.  Designing a postgresql (or any other database) would be
fairly simple to implement (and manage).

  - Daily backups.
  - A few indices (indexes)
  - A good tool (like pgAdmin or phpMyAdmin) to manage if it's PostgreSQL
(and the other database engines have their tools as well)

Come by and brainstorm with some of the people at the meeting.  But any
database (from SQLLite to PostgreSQL) will handle THESE requirements.

If your goal is to learn databases - pick a good one to learn with so you
learn the right way to do things off the bat (and don't pick up bad
habits).  If your goal is to solve the problem (the sign-in sheet)
something other than Postgre may better suit your needs.

Portland PostgreSQL group:  http://pugs.postgresql.org/pdx

And if you're at the meeting tonight, you can ask me there or on this list
(or off list if you'd prefer)...

Tim
-- 
Timothy J. Bruce
kboodu

Registered Linux User #325725






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