M359 27 Mar 2008 01:37 pm
Death by SQL
M359 continues, and continues to really test me. Got TMA01 in with 6 days to spare – the latest I’ve been with an assignment submission in nearly three years with the OU – and I was as glad to see it go as I was to see the S199 ECA go. That’s not really a good feeling when you realise there’s still three TMAs and an exam to come…
They don’t give you much time before TMA02, either – it’s due in a month, so there’s no time to take a breather before delving back into the course. Block 2 seems to be mostly relational theory, with the emphasis on converting back and forth between relational models and entiti-relationship diagrams – it’s very dry material, and very hard going, as the subject is just abstract enough that I find it hard to really concentrate enough on the details for them to sink in. Fun, fun, fun. I think my chances of a distinction on this one are remote – and that’ll have a huge knock-on effect on my hopes for a first-class degree classification. Aaargh.
On the bright side, Block 3 approaches, and that’s all SQL. I’m quite looking forward to that, on the assumption that SQL is at heart a “programming” language, and my scores on the Java courses have showed I have an aptitude there. Hopefully that’s not a misconception….