Thato has always been interested in learning different things about the world. Besides his studies
at college to become an environmental lawyer, he has done various short courses on multiple
platforms. He started with a massive open online course (MOOC) on astronomy presented by a
well-known university in the United States of America. He decided not to opt for the official
certificate, so the study did not cost anything. However, it was still quite academic and not what
he hoped to do for fun. So, his search continued.
Then he found an international course marketplace, where the instructors posted their courses
online, and anybody could enrol to watch the video material at any time. He has since learned
how to paint watercolour flowers from an artist in Spain. Additionally, he learned how to repair
broken ceramics from a wonderfully creative person in Japan and even how to create animated
characters from somebody in Italy. These online courses cost him less than a good dinner since he
patiently awaited special offers.
After a while, he started wondering what he could learn from South African people. We have such
talented creative people. Indeed, there must be great content out there. However, he could not
find what he was looking for. Plenty of serious, academic short courses are usually available, with
equally high prices too. There just was not a space for creatives to post their material.
Thato wanted to fill this gap with our South African course marketplace website.
It would help if you answered all the questions within the context of this scenario. Apply your
knowledge – do not just present the textbook facts.
Thato is now convinced that a database is necessary. But
now, he must choose whether to use a relational or NoSQL database.
Explain to him which type of database (relational or NoSQL) you would recommend and why for
each of the following types of data.
Q.2.1 Data about courses, for example, the name of the course, name of the creator,
category that the course belongs to, etc.
(5)
Q.2.2 Videos, pictures, and files the course creators want to make available to those
purchasing their courses.
(5)
For data about courses, I would recommend using a relational database. Relational databases are well-suited for structured data with predefined schemas, such as the information about courses (name, creator, category, etc). This type of data can be easily organized into tables with relationships between them, making it efficient to query and retrieve specific information.
For videos, pictures, and files that course creators want to make available, I would recommend using a NoSQL database. NoSQL databases are better suited for unstructured or semi-structured data, like multimedia files. They can handle large volumes of data and are flexible in storing different types of data formats without the constraints of a fixed schema. This flexibility would be beneficial for storing the multimedia content associated with the courses.