Week 6 Post - Castonguay - Group A

Relational Database Theory

In 1970, a mathematician working at IBM named Edgar F. Codd published a paper that would change the future of technology. His paper showed how information stored in large databases could be accessed without knowing where the information was in he database or how it was structured. Basically, his paper brought up he new ides of relational databases. Before this time, databases were used in a predictable way that retrieved the same information over and over again. Only computer specialists were able to get specific information from computers. After Codd, any person could now get information from computers without knowing where it came from on the computer. his made people more able to focus on what hey were doing rather than accessing the information on their computers. After Codd published this theory, it needed to be tested. Many companies promoted it and much research was put into it. Following, many different types of relational databases were invented such as System R, SQL, and DB2. The DB2 family of relational databases handles billions of transactions every day and is one of IBM's most successful software products. Because of his ideas, Codd was named an IBM fellow and the Turing Award, which is considered the "Nobel Prize of computing."

A relational database organizes information on computers based on the relational model of data. Data is organized into one or many tables of rows and columns where each row has a unique key. In a database, each entity type has its own table with rows and columns. The rows represent the instances of that entity and the columns represent the attribute values describing each instance. Rows in other tables can be linked to each other with their unique keys. This is done by storing he original row's unique key as an attribute of the secondary row. In relational databases, rows are contain "tuples" and columns contain "attributes". The figure to the left shows how users interact with a relational database.

In relational database theory, there are five normal forms. These forms represent guidelines for record design and are designed to prevent update anomalies and data inconsistencies. The first normal form deals with the "shape" of a record type. The second and third normal forms deal with the relationship between non-key and key fields. The fourth and fifth normal forms deal with multi-valued facts which could correspond to a many-to-many relationship or a many-to-one relationship.

Comments

Kaili Yue- I really enjoyed your graphic showing what a relation, attribute, and tuple are. It helped me visualize the organization of relational databases much better!

J Schwakoff - I think your post helped me understand relational databases more than anything I found online. This was a difficult topic for me to completely grasp and you explained it in a much more understandable way than most!

Catherine Stephens - I learned about tab delimited files in your post, which were used before relational databases. Here, each entry was separated with a vertical bar. It is clear to notice how hard it would be to search for specific information in a file like this.

Resources

Kent, William. "A Simple Guide to Five Normal Forms in Relational Database Theory." Bkent.net. 1996. Web. 09 Feb. 2015.

 "The Theory of Relational Databases." IBM.com. Web. 10 Feb. 2015.

B3 - Week 4 - How does Revit relate to other BIM programs?

My experience with design software has been limited to Revit and AutoCAD, with a few other softwares that are used for other types of design. Therefore I want to focus on the relationship between the two as it is what I can speak about most intelligently. Revit is a piece of software that is used to create digital models of buildings with the added benefit of pertinent building information being linked to different components of the model. The software is known as BIM, or building information modeling. This is done such that different requirements -- including schedules, elevations, plans, 3D views, etc. -- can all be generated from a single plan model. Obviously, some building components need additional parameters added from different views and some components are better designed from a different view. However, what this software allows is to step out of line work and simple pictorial representations that require each view to be created separately and are truly only helpful in 2D views. With this benefit now one can sit down and each time a person "sketches" or "drafts" the parameters of a component and accept those parameters, a fully finished and detailed component is created. This component also has material information linked to it as well as many other types of information that designers require. For instance, one can automatically create detailed schedules in a few clicks.
With that description of Revit established, we can compare how this relates to AutoCAD. AutoCAD is also able to create digital models, however it is actually software for digital drafting, which means it really is only an electronic sketch table. The software will allow for lines to be drawn and the spaces between them in 2 or 3 dimensions to be saved to create a digital drawing of the building. This differs greatly from Revit in that one using AutoCAD is only connecting lines to create shapes and the model is not so different from the same drawing done on paper. The computer assistance, however, allows for different features such as copy and paste as well as having a universal model scale that allows for exact dimensions to be satisfied. This was a major improvement, at the time, from drawing by hand which takes a tremendous amount of time and effort.
Compared to Revit, AutoCAD pales in comparison in terms of time and effort efficiency and efficacy to create a helpful, useable model. Revit allows for components to be represented as whole pieces with various types of data and modifiable parameters that relate to that type of building component. For example, a door in AutoCAD is really just a number of lines that will look like a picture of a door whereas a door in Revit is a predesigned component that is fully 3D, has multiple parameters in many different categories relating to design, and has a tremendous amount of metadata linked to it. It is simple to see that Revit can eliminate many of the tedious tasks associated with current design processes, including the dreaded updating of schedules and other information as the model changes.
Some other types of software do exist, such as Bentley Architecture V8i, Vico, and Tekla BIM which are all different in terms of interface and overall scope of use. For instance Bentley Architecture V8i is generally the software of choice for large international firms, which speaks volumes about the overall efficacy and dependability of the software. They also offer a myriad of different types of software that address many of the needs and concerns of highly professional and large projects that can be international collaborations. Vico is another type of BIM software that can allow for up to 5D models, which allow for advanced estimating and planning to be linked to the model. Vico also allows for projects to be remotely accessed and updated by multiple workers. Finally Tekla is mainly for civil projects as its main material types used for building are concrete and steel. All of these mentioned BIM softwares have the main difference from AutoCAD of being BIM and not just visual representations of a building. These BIM softwares will allow for advanced models to be created all at once while generating the necessary supporting documentation about the building components.

As Hamad Al-Sulaiti said, Autodesk did not fall from the limelight after the emergence of Revit -- they actually bought it and championed it. Autodesk is diversifying its products and evolving what we know as BIM into new and ever more useful programs. What is considerable is that they have found a way to thrive in a market where the paradigm of digital design is constantly changing. I think this is due in part by them identifying the inevitability of needing to adopt new systems to govern digital design and adopting these ideas as  their own. When Revit was being designed Autodesk found out who was creating this and bought it outright because they knew that their initial design software would be obsolete soon.
Hang Wang also referenced his own experiences using both softwares in different coops. I agree with how he described both types of software in terms of usefulness. AutoCAD does have some applications where it performs better than Revit. For instance, when only simple, 2D plans are required Revit is much too involved and would not be useful for simple representation. Also for projects involving renovations or designing within a preexisting building would require the entire building to be recreated in Revit before any new designs could be done. Therefore it should be understood that Revit does no outshine AutoCAD in all was.
Angela Castro referenced that Revit is technically creating 4D models -- 3D models with even more information or parameters attached to it intelligently. There is a potential for 5, 6, 7D that have been loosely defined but essentially what they describe is adding increasing levels of metadata to a building model. This includes comprehensive aspects of the building design process so that there is the potential to complete the entire building design process at once by creating a the model in a BIM software. This is more or less the direction that BIM is currently taking -- allowing for computers to perform more of the tedious and time consuming tasks related to building design, such as cost estimates, material schedules, spatial conflicts, etc.