8 of the Challenges listed in the 101 Computing Challenges book require you to use an RDBMS (Relational Database Management Software) which support the creation of multiple objects such as tables, queries, input forms and reports.
One of the most popular desktop database management system is Micrsoft Access which is perfectly fine to complete these challenges. It’s a very good tool to learn Relational Database concepts. However it is part of the Microsoft Office suite and is not free to download.
You can however consider a free alternative to Microsoft Access such as Apache OpenOffice Base. The Appache OppenOffice is an open source suite of applications similar in many ways to Microsoft Office. The main difference being that it is free to download. You can find out more about Apache OppenOffice Base by vistitin this webpage:
http://www.openoffice.org/product/base.html
LMC Simulator
Flowchart Studio
Python Syntax