<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML dir=ltr><HEAD>
<META content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1" http-equiv=Content-Type>
<STYLE id=owaParaStyle>P {
MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px
}
</STYLE>
<META name=GENERATOR content="MSHTML 8.00.6001.18904"></HEAD>
<BODY bgColor=#ffffff ocsi="0" fPStyle="1">
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>"<FONT size=3><FONT
face="Times New Roman"><STRONG>incremental</STRONG> (text); " seems to be rather
an oxymoron? Wrong! Just a conflict of meanings.</FONT></FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial><FONT size=3><FONT
face="Times New Roman"></FONT></FONT></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial><FONT size=3><FONT
face="Times New Roman">Incremental means "add one each time", so would seem to
only apply only to numbers. Else if we apply this idea to text, we should
progress to the next letter in the alphabet ?</FONT></FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>Just went back to the Study Design - there it is :
"<FONT size=3><FONT face="Times New Roman"><STRONG>incremental</STRONG>
(text)"</FONT></FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial><FONT size=3><FONT
face="Times New Roman"></FONT></FONT></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV>So what is this KK trying to say? Defeats me at the moment.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Some clarification please.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>Robert Hind (Semi-retired)<BR>Ashwood and
Traralgon<BR><A
href="mailto:robert@yinnar.com">robert@yinnar.com</A></FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="FONT: 10pt arial; BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=kbeveridge@stbc.vic.edu.au
href="mailto:kbeveridge@stbc.vic.edu.au">Kent Beveridge</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=itapps@edulists.com.au
href="mailto:itapps@edulists.com.au">Year 12 IT Applications Teachers' Mailing
List</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Monday, April 12, 2010 3:39
PM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> RE: [Year 12 IT Apps] ITA U3O2
key knowledge 9</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV
style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma; DIRECTION: ltr; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: 13px">
<DIV>Yep, incremental is an odd one Mark.</DIV>
<DIV>Is it perhaps trying to say a 'limited length within a given range?"
text length? perhaps similar to memo fields (ie fixed length
realistically to a maximum figure eg 150 characters for a short comment
field ). Just a thought.</DIV>
<DIV>character..</DIV>
<DIV>text...</DIV>
<DIV>strings...</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>what about concatenated strings?</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>ahhhh, so many data types!!</DIV>
<DIV>If they were ALL covered, our heads would explode!.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Kent.</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT-FAMILY: Times New Roman; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: 16px">
<HR tabIndex=-1>
<DIV style="DIRECTION: ltr" id=divRpF955353><FONT color=#000000 size=2
face=Tahoma><B>From:</B> itapps-bounces@edulists.com.au
[itapps-bounces@edulists.com.au] on behalf of Mark KELLY
[kel@mckinnonsc.vic.edu.au]<BR><B>Sent:</B> Monday, 12 April 2010 2:07
PM<BR><B>To:</B> Year 12 IT Applications Teachers' Mailing
List<BR><B>Subject:</B> [Year 12 IT Apps] ITA U3O2 key knowledge
9<BR></FONT><BR></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV>Hi all. Welcome back to work. <BR><BR>1. Need a bit of
help reading a database KK dotpoint - "data formats, including limited length,
unlimited length, <B>incremental</B> (text); integer, auto string number, long
(number); date, 24-hour clock (date/time); dollar (currency); true and false
(representation of Boolean logic)"<BR clear=all><BR>I have not come across
'incremental' text fields before. Googling suggests it might perhaps be
referring to the auto-entry of incrementing serial numbers into a
field?<BR><BR>And later it refers to 'auto string number' - is this an
auto-entered numeric serial number? In which case, what does 'auto
<B>string</B> number' mean?<BR><BR>N.B. the term '<B>incremental' </B>did not
appear in the draft study design. Also, the mysterious 'auto string
number' did not appear: instead there was the clearer 'auto incremented
number'... is that what the accredited SD meant to say?<BR><BR>Any
suggestions, anyone?<BR><BR>--------------<BR><BR>2. While I'm on this KK, I'm
wondering about the usage of the term 'data format'. I've believed data
format refers to the way data is <B>presented</B> (e.g. a date could be shown
as text or in a calendar control; numbers can be formatted with different
number of decimal places, thousands separators, right justified
etc).<BR><BR>But KK9 refers to things like integer and long as being data
formats rather than data types, which I'd call them since they define the
storage needs of the data rather the way it is formatted in output. Much
the same applies to limited & unlimited length text fields: they do not
differ in appearance, they are fundamentally different types of storage
entities.<BR><BR>And date and time are listed as formats of date/time.
Again, I would argue that they are distinctly different field types rather
than display variants. In Filemaker, my primary RDBMS tool, there are
different field types for date, time and timestamp (a combination of date and
time in one container). Of course dates and times can be formatted in various
ways in output, but they are not stored the same...<BR><BR>I am happy with the
other data formats mentioned in KK9 such as currency being a special format
for numbers, but in the previous dotpoint currency is also mandated as a data
<B>type</B>. This may be because Access confuses things by having both a
currency <B>format</B> and a currency <B>datatype</B>) - I'm looking at
looking at <A
href="http://www.everythingaccess.com/tutorials.asp?ID=Using-the-Currency-field-data-type---without-the-hassle"
target=_blank>http://www.everythingaccess.com/tutorials.asp?ID=Using-the-Currency-field-data-type---without-the-hassle</A>.
Filemaker does not have a currency data type... do other RDBMS? I hope
this is not another case of Access parochialism.<BR><BR>I think we need to be
rather careful distinguishing between field <B>types</B> (U3O2KK8) and field
<B>formats</B> (U3O2KK9).<BR><BR><BR>-- <BR>Mark Kelly<BR>Manager -
Information Systems<BR>McKinnon Secondary College<BR>McKinnon Rd McKinnon
3204, Victoria, Australia<BR>Direct line / Voicemail: 8520 9085<BR>School
Phone +613 8520 9000<BR>School Fax +613 9578 9253<BR><A
href="mailto:kel@mckinnonsc.vic.edu.au"
target=_blank>kel@mckinnonsc.vic.edu.au</A><BR><BR>Webmaster - <A
href="http://www.mckinnonsc.vic.edu.au"
target=_blank>http://www.mckinnonsc.vic.edu.au</A><BR>IT Lecture notes: <A
href="http://vceit.com" target=_blank>http://vceit.com</A><BR>Moderator: IT
Applications Mailing List<BR><BR>The early bird may get the worm, but the
second mouse gets the cheese in the
trap.<BR>_______________________________________________ <BR><A
href="http://www.edulists.com.au" target=_blank>http://www.edulists.com.au
</A>- FAQ, resources, subscribe, unsubscribe <BR>IT Applications Mailing List
kindly supported by <BR><A
href="http://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/vce/studies/infotech/itapplications3-4.html "
target=_blank>http://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/vce/studies/infotech/infotechindex.html
</A>- Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority and <BR><A
href="http://www.vitta.org.au" target=_blank>http://www.vitta.org.au </A>-
VITTA Victorian Information Technology Teachers Association Inc<BR><BR><FONT
style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff">
<P align=center><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff">Click <A
href="https://www.mailcontrol.com/sr/wQw0zmjPoHdJTZGyOCrrhg=="
target=_blank>here</A> to report this email as
spam.</FONT></P></FONT></DIV></DIV></DIV><BR><BR>
<P align=center><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff">This message has been
scanned for malware by Websense. </FONT><A
href="http://www.websense.com/"><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff"
color=#000000>www.websense.com</FONT></A></P>_______________________________________________
<BR><A href="http://www.edulists.com.au">http://www.edulists.com.au </A>- FAQ,
resources, subscribe, unsubscribe <BR>IT Applications Mailing List kindly
supported by <BR><A
href="http://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/vce/studies/infotech/itapplications3-4.html ">http://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/vce/studies/infotech/infotechindex.html
</A>- Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority and <BR><A
href="http://www.vitta.org.au">http://www.vitta.org.au </A>- VITTA Victorian
Information Technology Teachers Association Inc </BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>