Choosing an office suite

[Hilary Bailey]

Distinguish community,
Thanks again for such comments. I already build an Excel model which
consist of many files.I also wrote a layman methodology which includes a
graphical representation, explaining the relationship between and among
different contributors, the reporting system, defined the contributors,
what kind of information can be entered, who to target, red flags as
warning signs, and many other parameters. Over the years (20 years) I
have been using a smaller component of this creation, but now, after
seeing what my school district, and other districts use as a source of
information/data management, I think that my written model surpasses
their presentation tools.

Now it is time to role up my sleeves and get to work. I am not afraid of
spending countless hours working on learning. Secondly, I am not trying
to find a cute shortcut to creating a program. My great concern is where
to start, and having started, knowing the possible steps to take
(different tools such as Vim, HTML, SQLs) to have the understanding. As
I mentioned, many moons gone by, I do not have the finance to pay for
such expertise, also I am aware that due to the USA financial mess,
seeking private grants is almost virtually impossible. For others who
are fortunate to have the financial resources, good for them, my reality
is a bit different.

Therefore at this point I think that I have gathered a whole lot of
valuable information from a great community. My approach will be to
attack my dream with the following curriculum:
a)as described by Phillip G -Pick up the necessities of HTML,
CSS, and JavaScript - Learn about application security (this is very,
very important on the internet!)- Learn about deployment options for
Rails.
b) as mentioned by Shern - Check out <http://htmldog.com
c) as noted by Guecker928 - (during the learning process),
seek-out a marketing\legal\strategic plan.
d) As the whole community have said - take time and avoid
shortcuts.

Finally, I am very impressed with this board. And as I follow this guide
(2/3 year guide) I hope the community will keep providing novices like
myself the tools necessary to learn, build and someday add to the
support of this OpenSource environment.

Respectfully,

Hilary

 

[Martin DeMello]

Therefore at this point I think that I have gathered a whole lot of
valuable information from a great community. My approach will be to
attack my dream with the following curriculum:
=A0 =A0 =A0 =A0a)as described by Phillip G -Pick up the necessities of HT= ML,
CSS, =A0 =A0and JavaScript - Learn about application security (this is ve= ry,
very important on the internet!)- Learn about deployment options for
Rails.
=A0 =A0 =A0 =A0b) as mentioned by Shern - Check out <http://htmldog.com
=A0 =A0 =A0 =A0c) as noted by Guecker928 - (during the learning process),
seek-out a marketing\legal\strategic plan.
=A0 =A0 =A0 =A0d) As the whole community have said - take time and avoid
shortcuts.

I would suggest an alternative approach:

a. Learn the basics of SQL
b. Learn how to design a schema, use it to create a database, get a
large sample dataset into that database and perform complex queries
c. Get your analytical software written to work with the result sets
from those queries
d. Write some ruby code to tie all the above together.

At this point you have a solid commandline application that will do
your data analysis. *Now* you can look at putting a UI to it - learn
HTML, CSS and Javascript for the frontend, and Rails or whatever for
the backend. Start by having a small web form that lets the user enter
some simple search and limit criteria, does the data analysis, and
returns the results as a webpage. Proceed from there.

If you are planning on forming a company to do this, another option
would be to talk a programmer friend into doing some work on it in his
spare time, in return for stock.

martin

 

[Hilary Bailey]

Thanks Martin,
Can you refer a site where I can download SQL with its tutorial/guide?

 

[Bill Felton]

Thanks Martin,
Can you refer a site where I can download SQL with its tutorial/guide?

As Sherm pointed out, SQL is a language/product. MySQL and Postgres are =
probably the easiest to come by, in that mySQL is available in a free =
edition (I think postgres is also).
For learning mySQL, I like Ben Rota's MySQL Crash Course, which can be =
had fairly inexpensively. But there are countless titles that =
introduct/teach SQL.

cheers,
Bill=

 

[Martin DeMello]

As Sherm pointed out, SQL is a language/product. =A0MySQL and Postgres ar=

e probably the easiest to come by, in that mySQL is available in a free edi=
tion (I think postgres is also).

SQLite and Firebird are worth a look too. I'd say to start with MySQL
because using it under windows is very well documented and there's a
community and GUI tools around it, but consider either Postgresql or
Firebird for your actual application, once you've got a bit of
experience in configuring and managing a database.

For learning mySQL, I like Ben Rota's MySQL Crash Course, which can be ha=

d fairly inexpensively. =A0But there are countless titles that introduct/te=
ach SQL.

Also http://sqlzoo.net/ is a very nice interactive SQL tutorial. Work
through it once you've read up on the basic concepts and syntax.

martin

 

[Hilary Bailey]

Thank you for the info.

 

[Iñaki Baz Castillo]

I'm really surprised as this thread has become really long even if it
has nothing to do with Ruby.

Ok, I must choice between Open and Renault, any help?

--=20
I=C3=B1aki Baz Castillo
<[email protected]>

 

[Stu]

I second Ben Forta's books.

As Sherm pointed out, SQL is a language/product. =A0MySQL and Postgres ar=

e probably the easiest to come by, in that mySQL is available in a free edi=
tion (I think postgres is also).

For learning mySQL, I like Ben Rota's MySQL Crash Course, which can be ha=

d fairly inexpensively. =A0But there are countless titles that introduct/te=
ach SQL.

 

[Phillip Gawlowski]

I'm really surprised as this thread has become really long even if it
has nothing to do with Ruby.

Ok, I must choice between Open and Renault, any help?

No contest: Opel. It's the lesser of two evils.

--=20
Phillip Gawlowski

Though the folk I have met,
(Ah, how soon!) they forget
When I've moved on to some other place,
There may be one or two,
When I've played and passed through,
Who'll remember my song or my face.