[Year 12 IT Apps] ITA U3O2 key knowledge 9

[Roland Gesthuizen]

Nice, the Y2K bug's birthday :-)

On 12 April 2010 17:05, Mike Brookes <mikebr at tpg.com.au> wrote:

>  In microsoftspeak date/time is a single data type. Date/times are stored
> as a decimal value giving the days from jan 1 1900
> the bit after the decimal point is then formatted in hours/min/sec or
> whatever you wish.
> ie date/times are stored as a single floating point number which is then
> formatted as date and/or time - this is much more efficient than storing as
> text
>
> Mike Brookes
> Chief cook and bottle washer Copperfield College
>
>
> On 12/04/2010 2:07 PM, Mark KELLY wrote:
>
> Hi all.  Welcome back to work.
>
> 1.  Need a bit of help reading a database KK dotpoint - "data formats,
> including limited length, unlimited length, *incremental* (text); integer,
> auto string number, long (number); date, 24-hour clock (date/time); dollar
> (currency); true and false (representation of Boolean logic)"
>
> 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?
>
> And later it refers to 'auto string number' - is this an auto-entered
> numeric serial number?  In which case, what does 'auto *string* number'
> mean?
>
> N.B. the term '*incremental' *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?
>
> Any suggestions, anyone?
>
> --------------
>
> 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 *presented*(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).
>
> 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.
>
> 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...
>
> 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 *type*.  This may be because Access confuses
> things by having both a currency *format* and a currency *datatype*) - I'm
> looking at looking at
> http://www.everythingaccess.com/tutorials.asp?ID=Using-the-Currency-field-data-type---without-the-hassle.
> Filemaker does not have a currency data type... do other RDBMS?  I hope this
> is not another case of Access parochialism.
>
> I think we need to be rather careful distinguishing between field *types*(U3O2KK8) and field
> *formats* (U3O2KK9).
>
>
> --
> Mark Kelly
> Manager - Information Systems
> McKinnon Secondary College
> McKinnon Rd McKinnon 3204, Victoria, Australia
> Direct line / Voicemail: 8520 9085
> School Phone +613 8520 9000
> School Fax +613 9578 9253
> kel at mckinnonsc.vic.edu.au
>
> Webmaster - http://www.mckinnonsc.vic.edu.au
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>
> The early bird may get the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese in
> the trap.
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-- 
Roland Gesthuizen - ICT Coordinator - Westall Secondary College
http://www.westallsc.vic.edu.au

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change
the world; indeed it is the only thing that ever has." --Margaret Mead
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