The Principle of Autonomy

Although this point may not be obvious from the previous video, it is important to keep your project autonomous. That is, when you select a directory for a project, ensure that all of the project files are included, and only the project files!

Don't mix your project data with other kinds of files! If you have scripts that are specific to your project, it is sensible to include those with your project files, but general-purpose scripts and programs should be kept elsewhere.

For example, if you have a Matlab project, separate it from your Matlab installation. Why?
- You want to be able to update your installation of Matlab, without overwriting your project files.
- You also want to be able to share your project without including Matlab installation files.

This principle of autonomy will come up again and again: In relational databases, you should normalize (organize) data to prevent redundancy and improve data integrity. In programming, scripts or functions should be modularized, that is, they should be separated into small independent pieces that accomplish one goal, and are not intermixed with other goals. This is not to say that such organization is easy, but just to point toward a goal.

Lesson: Informatics 1: Data Management (~35-minutes)