Ethan's Computer Science Journey

 Briefly summarize the what you consider to be the three (3) most important things you learned in this course. The first most important thing I learned is SQL & Relational Databases. Mastering core SQL operations like select, insert, update, delete, and relational concepts like primary/foreign keys. The second most important thing I learned in Transaction Management & NoSQL. Understanding ACID transactions, concurrency control, and NoSQL systems like MongoDB. The third most important thing is SQL proficiency. Mastering complex queries like joins, subqueries, aggregates, and managing database structures like tables, constraints, and keys.

Compare MongoDB with MySQL. What are some similarities? They are both open source, run on multiple OS, support indexing, and support many programming languages. What are some differences? MySQL uses tables with rows and columns, and MongoDB uses JSON-like documents. MySQL uses enforced schema, while MongoDB is schemaless. MySQL supports joins and prefers vertical scaling. While MongoDB doesn't and prefers horizontal scaling. When would you choose one over the other?  Choose MySQL when you need structured data with well-defined relationships, rely heavily on joins, foreign keys, and/or complex SQL queries. MongoDB is better when data is unstructured, nested, or constantly evolving. If you're dealing with large-scale data and need horizontal scalability. 

Summarize what you have learned this week.        This week I learned about database programming concepts like Java's Connector/J (JDBC) API for interacting with MySQL. Like establishing connections using DriverManager.getConnection(), executing queries with Statement and PreparedStatement objects. Also embedded SQL in older languages like C, which use precompilers and shared variables. I also covered stored procedure calls with CallableStatement. Mostly focused on learning syntax, error handling, and security considerations.