MacHntr #PCLiFE

Tagging is a unique function that many users of this decade see as a necessity, especially when it comes to social media.  Tagging is the act of linking something -- whether a profile, a name, a location, etc. -- to a picture or item.  Often times we see this done on social media, as many of our friends or followers “tag” their friends that are present in the picture with them.  

What is hardware?

Hardware is the physical objects on a computer that the user can touch.  For example, a computer monitor would be classified as hardware.

Software on the other hand, is something that goes onto the hardware (i.e. CPU, processors, etc.)  The benefit of having a multi-core possessor’s have the unique ability to process data at a much quicker speed versus a single or dual core possessor.  This is beneficial for businesses that handle a large quantity of data daily, as well as for programmers working with extensive code. 

Form v. Report

Form -- lets us feed one data at a time and then feed the original data back to the report

Report -- is used solely for summary purposes

What is a flat database?

An index card is considered a flat database

What is a datawarehouse?

Where many different databases are stored

What is an object-oriented database?

It is done with programming, traditionally at our University, C++ is the language that is taught.  It is used for social media websites where pictures, videos, sounds, etc. can be stored on an individual’s personal profile

How to create a database?

create a data dictionary (how fields are going to be use)

data normalization

data validation

enter data (manually or import)

design queires

create reports

Human Genome Project (HGP)

Today I thought to do a different type of posting.  Instead of formulating an entire post about one specific topic, I thought to blog about some interesting facts that I learned throughout the week.

Synchronous is something that happens at the same time (i.e. FaceTime) -- as it allows the recipient to respond immediately providing a direct connection with another user.  Asynchronous is something that occurs independently (i.e. email) -- as it require someone to get back to you and does not provide instantaneous reply from the recipient.

Wikis I thought to be interesting because it relies on the wisdom of the crowd -- which means that, since people can edit wikis infinite amount of times, the information provided on wikis are not always accurate; thus, the wisdom does reply on the crowd that publishes particular information.

The internet allows us to connect with the world around us.  We have not always been as fortunate to have mobile devices, such as the iPhone, that allow us to access information at the touch of a button.  Over the years, there have been various methods to connect to the internet such as dial up, DSL, cable, etc., with internet speeds growing as technology enhanced. 

The internet has expanded greatly throughout the years, allowing the users to do more than ever: multiplayer games, video streaming, social media access, and much much more.  It is very fascinating to see the progress that has happened even just within my lifetime, and makes my anticipation grow even greater when I think about what could come in twenty years to follow.

Dial up vs. Satellite 

Aol. (n.d.). Retrieved March 21, 2016, from http://www.outsidethebeltway.com/three-million-people-still-use-aol-dial-up/aol/ 

How to Choose Your Satellite Internet Provider? - Mr. Hoffman's Blog. (n.d.). Retrieved March 21, 2016, from http://www.hoffman-info.com/technology/internet/services/how-to-choose-your-satellite-internet-provider/

When creating a storyboard for a webpage, there are numerous factors that need to be considered beforehand and sketched out on your storyboard.  Depending on how you want you webpage to be formatted, will depend on what coding you will use on your initial storyboard.

squiggly line underlined = text link

box with slash = picture

box with slash & v in upper right = video 

box with slash underlined = picture link

rectangle = search box

rectangle underlined = image link

dotted table = table

large box covering the entire webpage = background image  

how do you know its a table?

because you have tabs on both sides of the upper/lower line and therefore can only be controlled via table

When creating a webpage, there are some additional details that need should be considered:

don’t use capital letters -- only makes it harder for users to find your page

don’t use blank spaces -- again visitors do not know when you are going to put blank spaces

hyphens and underlines are permissible however; do not exceed a reasonable amount

Today we learned about different organizing tips to use within Excel.  While Excel already organizes the information a user inputs into cells and charts, sometimes it helps to have a pivot chart setup in order to summarize your data in a manner that they can be quickly and easily interpreted by someone else.

This is an example used from a pivot chart created in class.  As you can see, it collects the data in an orderly fashion so that anyone, even someone who is not familiar with what data that is contained within this spreadsheet, can easily scan for the pivot chart and understand what you are reporting.

Pivot charts are very useful and are fully customizable, allowing the user to change the filters, colors, and types of charts.  This can be convenient when the user seeks to color coordinate data.

This week, as stated in previous post, I learned a lot about digital media and a couple cool new features to use in Excel to expedite data entries.  I learned what the “Sort & Filter” tool is used for.  This is very convenient when you have a long list of name, dates, numbers, etc., and need to organize them in some manner.  This tool allows you to select the lists you seek to organize, and thne select the method of organization (i.e. alphabetically, numerically, etc.).  This saves a lot of time when trying to organize your lists as you do not have to manually go through and sort them by hand.

Another interesting thing I learned throughout this week was what a 3D reference is.  This is the ability to link values between pages, worksheets, and files.  This comes in handy when trying to calculate values between worksheets, and even between projects.  Since the reference is linked via the cell’s address, when the value is updated on the original worksheet, it will automatically update it in the other worksheets where its value is being used for calculations.

That’s all for this week.  More to come!

Digital media is very common in today’s social media and online exploration.  However, not all digital pictures are the same.  Each picture will fall into one of 4 file categories: .gif, .png, .jpg, .bmp.

.gif = Graphic Interchange Format -- used for static and animated images; the feature that makes them useful is their transparency -- meaning that you can place the .gif over any color background without seeing the boarder or background in the image.

.png = portable network graphics -- used to build upon .gif files; useful for web designers who want low-resolution images that load quickly and still look good.

.jpg/.jpeg = joint photographic expert group -- used for complex images and photos that offer a wide range of colors; moreover, they offer the web designer the ability to stretch it to their size of preference.

.bmp = bitmaps -- uses an array of bits to specify the color of each pixel in a rectangular array of pixels.  The number of bits per pixel determines the number of colors that can be assigned to that pixel.  Since they are not usually compressed, they are not well suited to be transferred across the web.

Bellow are some examples of the various types of images.

.gif

10 new hypnotic animated GIFs by David Szakaly. (n.d.). Retrieved February 08, 2016, from http://www.ufunk.net/en/artistes/david-szakaly/

.png

Tag » Twitter « @ iCreativeMedia. (n.d.). Retrieved February 08, 2016, from https://www.icreativemedia.com/tag/twitter

 .jpg/.jpeg

Warmer Oceans Could Produce More Powerful Superstorms. (2016). Retrieved February 08, 2016, from https://news.agu.org/press-release/warmer-oceans-could-produce-more-powerful-superstorms/

.bpm

Apa sih yang disebut dengan Bitmap dan Vector Graphic. (n.d.). Retrieved February 08, 2016, from http://www.tahukahkamu.org/article.php?id=33

As you can see, each file type differs from the other -- each with their own unique purpose depending on what type of file you desire.

Today was a brief lecture on tools that are built into the Excel program that can assist with speeding up data entries.  Simple tools, such as “count A,” “countblank,” and the “average” functions, which allows for the user to know the labels and values, count the empty cells, and average the selected values.

We also discussed how to edit the Excel spreadsheet to format in whatever way the user may desire.  The spreadsheet is very large, stretching across thousands of rows and columns.  If the user so desired to print the spreadsheets on “X” number of pages, there is a tool for that -- one that will force the information on the page to be shrunken down to fit onto one page.  This can be very useful for people that need to present their data and to submit it in a report-like fashion.  

Despite it being a quick class, some useful information was still acquired.  Looking forward to next week’s lecture!

Today we continued to learn and expand our knowledge of Excel and some of the cool and useful features that it offers its users.

The first thing that I learned today was the reason the first cell is clear when you select a multitude of cells at once.  The reason for this is mathematically based -- it is important to know where you are when performing calculations

Example:

5+3

In this situation, the order of operation does not matter as 5+3 and 3+5 give you the same outcome.  However, if you had:

5/3

Here, the order of operation would be very important as 5/3 and 3/5 will give you very different answers. 

The next thing that I learned today was a useful tool called “auto-fill.” This tool is the little plus sign/cross figure that appears in the bottom right hand side of  a cell that appears when you place your cursor there.  By clicking and dragging that downwards, Excel will either do one of two things depending on what is contained within the cell.  

If the value contained within is a “relative” value, excel will copy the cell relative to the row and column we are dragging it towards.  However, if the value is “absolute,” the value within the original cell will remain constant into the next cell.

Excel is one of the Microsoft Office programs that allow the user to perform a variety of tasks.  It consist of a multitude of “sheets.”  So many, that one would assume to be an infinite amount.  I sure thought so until Professor Sweeney told us that there are really only 1,048,576 rows and 16,384 columns -- ending on column “XFD.”

The term “sheet” actually has a historical meaning relating to accounting.

Sheet: Historical Meaning --> back in the old and days, the old people would keep their documentations in books (a.k.a. ledgers).  They all had various rows and columns similar to that of Excel.  In modern society, Excel is the program of choice when compiling various forms of data that a user would seek to implement in a table format.

Excel also allows for the user to do a multitude of calculations and formula implementations without having to do the math themselves.  These features can be used for creating budget spreadsheets, personal finances, tables, and other calculations that professional and personal Microsoft Office users would need to perform in their daily lives.  

Hopefully more will be learned from the coming week of lecture.

What am I doing here??

Some of you might be asking, “What am I doing here... In this class... at 10am in the morning 3 days a week?”  Well for starters, you’re hear to learn a thing or two that maybe you didn’t know before taking this class.  Hard to believe, right?  Yeah, I thought the same thing.

Surprisingly enough, I have learned some cool and interesting features about technology that I can assure you I would have NEVER stumbled upon before taking this class.  

For starters, I have learned how to use leaders and tabs, as well as formatting pages without simply clicking the enter button or tab button until my cursor has reached the desired location.  Styles are a completely new concept to me as I never knew 1) you could edit them; 2) how much time they can save you when writing a research paper and you need to make adjustments to your reference page.  Keyboard shortcuts and page breaks are features that I use daily. These are definitely small in comparison to more complex features of Microsoft Word, but very useful in daily workings.

All of these have been extremely useful in other classes thus far, and I still have 14 more weeks to continue my learning.

-impracticaljokester signing off 

Heckyeahreactiongifs. (2015, November 22). Retrieved January 25, 2016, from http://heckyeahreactiongifs.tumblr.com/post/133756891619 

(would use hanging cliff but tumblr’s not letting me :( )