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Cosmography Technology

The Console of Philosophy

Command Prompt 2

11 replies on “The Console of Philosophy”

You didn’t just learn a (structured query) language. You also learned a way of thinking. Considering how much of the world’s information is stuffed into relational databases, this will demystify a lot of stuff that sometimes seems to appear like pure magic, like airplane ticket ordering systems.

At the very least, it will give more substance to the superiority one should already feel over people that are of the “computer says no”-variety.

You didn’t just learn a (structured query) language. You also learned a way of thinking. Considering how much of the world’s information is stuffed into relational databases, this will demystify a lot of stuff that sometimes seems to appear like pure magic, like airplane ticket ordering systems.

At the very least, it will give more substance to the superiority one should already feel over people that are of the “computer says no”-variety.

I hope so, but I feel it might be exaggerated. It’s not like I wasn’t trying to figure out the internal logic of systems before this.

Where it will certainly make a palpable difference though is in Web development. I use several databases already – including of course the one all this is in – but up until now I’ve had at best a vague mental image of them as being composed of tables; effectively they were black boxes to me.

Now I have a practical knowledge of how they work, and could – if I wanted to take on a really difficult exercise – figure out their structures and even attempt to fiddle with them manually. So if the blog ever vanishes, you know what happened… But yeah, there will be more real-world benefit from this course than occurred to me last night when I was still exhausted from the test.

PS – Apologies to all if the prose was a bit lumpy. Writing at a command prompt was almost like using a typewriter again. You can’t change a thing after you’ve hit Return! My only options for correcting anything further back than the current paragraph were (a) to start over or (b) edit the screen capture in Photoshop! We’ve come to take very powerful word processing tools for granted.

I hope so, but I feel it might be exaggerated. It’s not like I wasn’t trying to figure out the internal logic of systems before this.

Where it will certainly make a palpable difference though is in Web development. I use several databases already – including of course the one all this is in – but up until now I’ve had at best a vague mental image of them as being composed of tables; effectively they were black boxes to me.

Now I have a practical knowledge of how they work, and could – if I wanted to take on a really difficult exercise – figure out their structures and even attempt to fiddle with them manually. So if the blog ever vanishes, you know what happened… But yeah, there will be more real-world benefit from this course than occurred to me last night when I was still exhausted from the test.

PS – Apologies to all if the prose was a bit lumpy. Writing at a command prompt was almost like using a typewriter again. You can’t change a thing after you’ve hit Return! My only options for correcting anything further back than the current paragraph were (a) to start over or (b) edit the screen capture in Photoshop! We’ve come to take very powerful word processing tools for granted.

Richard, knowledge is never, ever, wasted. Our magnificent brains, store all knowledge and information, to be used at appropriate times. Example; Due to the nature of my illness, ( I.I.H. that is, my body produces to much cerebrospinal fluid) my brain , can at certain times,due to the pressure, do some crazy things! Depending where the pressure may be on any given day, month,right, left side,the results are at times frightening and or fascinating! Long story short; while in school here in Ireland, I didnt do any languages at all. But, I did spend a LOT of time sitting in the back of the class reading, or day dreaming. This went on for some time, in French and Irish. Fast forward a good few years, while in the beginning of my illness,I awoke to find…I could speak fluent ( or at least Leaving cert school girl !) French! I also heard , when people spoke to me, in French, the TV was in French.I had to slow my conversations down as I had to mentally translate when people spoke to me. This lasted about 4 months. Then, again, woke one day, and it was all gone. I swear, I can not speak a word of French since. So, you see, the brain does take in everything. Its really what we do to keep it open and active that counts. And, knowing a little bit as to how your brain works… I don’t think you will have any problems! You will at some point, find the time to finish up what you started there in your present studies. Happy thoughts! Cath.

Date: Sun, 9 Dec 2012 05:29:42 +0000 To: cathandpat@hotmail.com

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