DEV Community: QueTeddy

Understanding Database Concepts

QueTeddy — Wed, 12 Jul 2023 05:45:06 +0000

Understanding Database Concepts
A database is the organized storage of related data records into fields in a table which is persistent in nature, the stored data or records are generally related with a form of connection between them.

Database Schema
This is a design that represents how the database would be structured. Database designers/administrators design schemas which detail the relationship among the data in the database, the constraints among others. Schemas could be represented visually by schema diagrams.

Entity Relationship
An entity is an object that is identifiable. An example would be staffs in a company, they could be considered as entities. All these entities have some attributes or properties that give them their identity. Relationship is the connection between entities across tables, it allows division of information into useful components that allows readability and efficiency.

The example below shows the relationship between the tables Student, Enrollment, Lecture, Lecturer and Subjects.

*Normalization *
This is a database design technique that helps minimize data redundancy (creation of multiple copies of the same data in the database). Using normalization, a database table could be broken up into smaller tables with links within them to ensure the relationship within them.

Normalization also helps prevent data anomalies like insertion, deletion and updation.

Data Modelling
A database has to be modelled first, which means it has to be designed in an architectural format that organizes the data description, the constraints on the data accepted and the data semantics. This helps understanding the database, building logical conception of the database and identifying missing and redundant data. It makes infrastructural upgrade and maintenance cheaper.

Queries
A database query allows for requesting data from the database either to manipulate or to retrieve the data requested. It is generally done using Structural Query language (SQL). SQL retrieves information from the database using a set of specified instructions example of database queries

Data Integrity
Data integrity is a process that ensures the security, accuracy, and overall quality of data. This makes sure that the data collected or stored in the database is validate and accepted plus store in the intended space for it.

References
https://teachcomputerscience.com/the-database-concept
https://static.javatpoint.com/blog/images/database-schema.png
https://www.tutorialspoint.com/dbms/dbms_data_schemas.htm
https://www.guru99.com/database-normalization.html
https://www.javatpoint.com/dbms-normalization
https://teachcomputerscience.com/the-database-concept/
https://www.javatpoint.com/dbms-normalization
https://www.educative.io/blog/what-is-database-query-sql-nosql

Understanding Infrastructure As Code

QueTeddy — Wed, 12 Jul 2023 05:26:54 +0000

Infrastructure As Code
Infrastructure
In software, infrastructure refers to the underlying technological components and resources required to support the operation and deployment of software systems. It encompasses the hardware, software, networks, and services necessary to run, manage, and scale software applications. Think of it as the backstage machinery that makes your favorite app or website work. Without infrastructure, software wouldn't be able to run, store data, or communicate with other systems just like a house that needs a foundation, walls, electricity, and plumbing to function properly.
Examples of infrastructure

Hardware: This includes physical devices like servers, computers, routers, switches, and storage systems. These devices provide the computational power and storage capacity needed to host and run the application.
Operating System: An operating system, such as Windows or Linux, is required to manage the hardware resources and provide a platform for running the application software.
Web Server: A web server, like Apache HTTP Server or Nginx, is used to handle incoming requests from clients and serve web pages or other content to users.
Database: Many applications require a database to store and retrieve data. Examples include MySQL, PostgreSQL, or MongoDB. The database handles data storage, retrieval, and querying.
Security Infrastructure: To protect the application and its data, various security measures are implemented, such as firewalls, intrusion detection systems (IDS), encryption, and access controls.
Monitoring and Logging: Monitoring tools and logging infrastructure help track the performance and health of the application. They provide insights into resource utilization, errors, and overall system behavior.
Cloud Services: If the application is deployed on a cloud platform like Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, or Google Cloud Platform (GCP), additional infrastructure components such as virtual machines, cloud storage, load balancers, and serverless functions may be utilized.

Infrastructure as Code (IaC)
Infrastructure as Code (IaC) is a way of defining and managing infrastructure through code, using machine-readable configuration files or scripts.
With Infrastructure as Code, the infrastructure configuration is expressed in code, just like software application code. This code can be version controlled, tested, and deployed using established software development practices. IaC treats infrastructure as a software-defined entity that can be created, modified, and destroyed programmatically.
IaC tools, such as Terraform, AWS CloudFormation, Azure Resource Manager, and Ansible, facilitate the implementation of infrastructure as code. These tools provide a way to describe the desired infrastructure state and handle the provisioning and configuration process.

Uses of Infrastructure as Code
● Infrastructure Provisioning: IaC allows Infrastructure provisioning which involves automating the creation and configuration of infrastructure resources using code, resulting in consistent, scalable, and repeatable infrastructure setups.
● Version Control: This allows tracking and managing changes made to infrastructure code over time, allowing for collaboration, history tracking, and easy rollback to previous versions if needed.
● Automated Testing: This involves the automated execution of tests against the infrastructure code to ensure its correctness, validate configurations, and identify any potential issues or misconfigurations before deploying the infrastructure.
● Infrastructure Monitoring: Involves implementing automated monitoring systems and tools to track the health, performance, and availability of the infrastructure resources defined in the code, providing real-time insights, alerts, and metrics for effective infrastructure management and troubleshooting.
● Deployment Automation: This allows for the automation in the process of setting up and configuring infrastructure resources. Eliminates the need for manual and error-prone deployment steps, ensuring consistent and reliable deployments of infrastructure components. It simplifies the deployment process, saves time, and allows for easy replication and scaling of infrastructure setups.
● Configuration Management: This involves managing and maintaining the configuration settings and properties of infrastructure resources through code. It allows consistent and controlled management of configurations across different environments, facilitates easy tracking and auditing of changes, and simplifies the process of updating and maintaining infrastructure configurations.

Examples of Infrastructure as Code Tools

For further reading, please visit: Infrastructure as Code: Best Practices, Benefits & Examples

References
https://www.suntechnologies.com/service/infrastructure-as-code/
https://www.c-sharpcorner.com/blogs/what-is-infrastructure-as-a-code
https://www.redhat.com/en/topics/automation/what-is-infrastructure-as-code-iac
https://www.terraform.io/

Internships and I (HNG)

QueTeddy — Mon, 16 Aug 2021 14:08:23 +0000

Fellow humans of earth (yea, I think there are aliens out there too), I have been trying to get an internship for as long as 4 months now, it appears Python is a very common stack but so is Mathematics (if you get what I mean), during my very long dry spell, I searched and combed every corner I could to see if I could be accepted into any, even if I don't get a dime from it (I needed accountability and experience badly). My breakthrough came through the Zuri team in partnership with HNGxI4G and Slack(the platform). Then I discovered the internship is a very high paced one with thousands of individuals competing for less than 500 spaces and I would be working with python for backend web development (what are the odds right???). Am stating my goals here for constant remembrance and for accountability (also because it's required as the first task).

My Goal

Get that damn Tee Shirt! I think everything I'll do would evolve around this, its going to be a very long 8 weeks, this is the starting point.

DEV Community: QueTeddy

Understanding Database Concepts

Understanding Infrastructure As Code

Internships and I (HNG)

My Goal

Tutorials I'll turn to Bible

So help me, myself.