The Need For A Database
I have a great many more books on databases, as they have evolved into highly complex creatures and I have found that the
fundamental concepts and "syntax" (the code that you have to input to get things done) can all too easily just keep
slipping "in and out of consciousness"!
This partcular book made for much easier reading but was much more theoretical.
All it takes is one missed semi-colon or the wrong sort of bracket and then all your ardently-yearned-for data remains resolutely stuck in
its dark cave until you can get the blessed syntax right to coax the beast within to let your data out again!
But worry not! This has all been done for you!
On the 19th of September 1991 "Ötzi The Iceman" was found in the Ötzal Alps in Northern Italy almost on the border with Austria.
He had "thawed out" of the glacier that he had been preserved in for ... well over five thousand years.
Around about this time, I happened to have a chat with a neighbour of mine in Switzerland: he was a charming Swedish Baron married to a really lovely Swedish lady. I asked him how long they had been married and he mentioned a very great number of years.
"Good Heavens!" I said, "You must have nothing left to say to one another after all that time together!"
"No," he answered. "Quite the contrary, in fact! We surprise each other almost every day by one or other of us coming out with something that either she or I had never ever heard before!"
This all resonated with me, as our memories nearly always "thaw out" in the most surprising and often completely random ways.
It therefore occurred to me that I needed to have some sort of Memory-Catching-Device that could not only hold memories but also order them "any old way" later on.
How We Will Use The Database
In order to store the text, photos and any other images that you will be uploading, I have set up a database, which underlies everything that we will be doing.
This "central repository" will enable you to write up your memories and modify them and add any photos or scanned documents that will enhance your book.
When you register, you will be assigned a Unique CLIENT Identifier Number.
Each time you enter your Memory text and press the "Add a Memory" button, that text will be stored in the database and your Memory will be assigned a Unique MEMORY identifier Number. If you are like me, you will find it much easier to remember this number than the actual title you gave your Memory.
Likewise, when you add a file and press the "Add a File" button, the file, be it a photo or a scanned document, will be assigned a Unique FILE identifier Number.
If you make a mistake or decide not to include a certain Memory, photo or scanned document, that is not a problem: you can either modify or delete it, and the database will record all of your changes.
Please make sure that you still keep the original files, as the images that you upload may be reduced in size if they are too large and, as Benjamn Franklin wrote, "... in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.”
Later on in the project we will start linking the Memories and the Files whenever we find "a good match".