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ERDs are used to take complex data relationships and display them in a simplified diagram. This can help people see the way entities relate to one another and how data is transferred. There are two types of ERDs (Chen and Crow’s Foot). In Chen’s diagram there are three symbols: rectangle (entity), oval (attributes), and diamond (relationships). In Crow’s Foot diagram, the symbols are a rectangle with a header that entails the entity and underneath there is a list of the attributes. To display relationships, there are arrows that are labeled with the relationship between the entities. There are various arrows that mark the cardinality between entities, one-to-one relationship, one-to-many, and many-to-one.  There’s also one to zero to one, one to zero to many and many to zero to one. These arrows represent if a transaction is not completed. ERDs are useful to display how data is relayed through a series of entities.

While HTML is the backbone of any webpage and CSS adds style and design to it, Javascript is responsible for adding interactivity. HTML and CSS do not provide interactivity, therefore you need to incorporate Javascript. Javascript is a scripting language that is used for web development. The definition of a scripting language is “a programming language that is used to manipulate, customize, and automate the facilities of an existing system”. These scripting languages allow you to create a system and also allow you to manipulate one that currently exists to either update it or fix an issue. Some of the other major scripting languages available today are PHP, Ruby, and Python. As a programming language, Javascript is a set of words used to tell a browser to perform what is being told to do. Javascript is event-driven. This means that it waits for the user to interact and then that is when the code is executed. Javascript is rated as the number one scripting language used today. Javascript is known to excel in user-friendliness as it is easy and efficient for users. I have done work with both Python and now I got the chance to learn Javascript in this class. I found that I enjoyed working with Javascript more and felt it was easier to understand and execute in comparison to python.

There are two main coding languages that add structure to a webpage. One being HTML and another being CSS. HTML is the hypertext markup language that in short describes the structure of a webpage. HTML is important because it allows you to use tags and elements to create headings, sections, and links on a website.  HTML is very important in building any website as it is the basic structure base that is used for anyone creating a website or improving an existing one. CSS stands for cascading style sheets. This differs from HTML as it is used to style and lay out a webpage. An example of style could be the colors you decide to use and an example of layout could be the format you chose. Both HTML and CSS are vital components of creating an effective and functioning website. HTML is the backbone, whereas CSS is the visual appearance being portrayed. I did some research and found that the first version of HTML was created in 1993 by a man named Tim Berners-Lee. HTML was originally created to distribute simple structured documents. There have been many versions of HTML, and the one used now is HTML5. CSS was invented just three years later by a man named Hakon Wium Lie. CSS was originally created to solve the issue of adding color and appearance to very large websites.

This image is very helpful in visualizing that HTML is the “bones” to a webpage and CSS adds the appearance and color to it. 

Loops are essential when repeating a certain code multiple times. The loop will be repeated until a specific condition has been met. Loops are essential when trying to make a code simpler and more efficient. You do not have to repeat a certain code multiple times to get the action you want, the loop will do it for you. There are three different types of loops used in Javascript. The first one is a for loop, this loop repeats until a certain condition returns false. The for loop is the loop that we would want to use when wanting to run a code a specific number of times. The three components of a for loop are declaring and initializing a sum with a let statement at the beginning of your code, declaring and initializing a number in your for loop, and executing the adjustment statement. Once these three components have been met, the condition will return false once it has been satisfied. The second type of loop is a while loop. A while loop creates a loop that will only execute if the condition returns as false. A while loop would be the loop that you want to use when you are unsure of the specific number of times that the code will run. If the loop continuation condition returns true then the loop will continue. In a while loop, you have to initialize a count instead of a sum like in the for loop. Lastly, we have the do-while loop. The do-while loop also continues to run until the condition returns false. 

We are using Salesforce to learn how technology can be used to carry out daily operations for an organization. We are learning how to compare and analyze information to make decisions for our businesses. The benefits of creating a database are having a record of data we can reference when making decisions and analyzing that data for future usage. We often use websites and forums without considering what processes happen behind the scenes. Using Salesforce allows me to see where my information goes after I import it into a system. I found it convenient that employees can input information for their supervisor to approve and view with comments. This is a great way to communicate about potential clients and allows others in the organization to access the information.

MIS stands for Management Information Systems. It is about optimizing information systems to make day to day operations easier. A system is a collection of technologies used for storing and processing data. This information is used to make important decisions for  organizations. MIS professionals specialize in creating systems that organizations can use to collect and analyze data. An example of this is Banner which is a system that many schools use to give students and teachers access to data. This is essential to organizations because information is stored in one place for all to use and analyze. System analysis tries to identify a problem the organization has and create a system that can be used to solve this problem. The core of all systems is information. Without information, there is nothing for the system to collect. MIS is essential to making organizations more efficient in their processes and decision making.