[PLUG] Database question

chris (fool) mccraw gently at gmail.com
Fri Jul 3 16:34:01 UTC 2009


On Fri, Jul 3, 2009 at 09:27, Amy Kelly<engagedtone at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> I agree with everything said so far, and add that you should try to
>>> learn database design before jumping into SQL or which database to use.
>>
>>   That's very good advice. Celko's "SQL Programming Style" does teach a lot
>> about database design. One could probably find excellent instruction on
>> normalization (and when to ignore that) on the Web.

I'd actually disagree that you need to wolf down any textbooks before
jumping in.  if you can find a good one-chapter "this is what
relational databases are" wrote-up, for entry-level stuff it won't
matter much which one you use and you don't need the finer points of
understanding what database type to use (mysql) or even necessarily
know why having tables indexed--it's obvious that it won't matter in
your proposed application (low size/complexity).

so if you love reading dense tech text, go for it--but don't let the
reading hold you back.  you can, in fact, basically just jump in and
do well enough.  just be ready to look back someday and say "well, i'd
do that differently now!"

i couldn't handle any of the documentation until i "designed" a couple
of similar-scope databases to the one you described, and those apps
still work fine.  i don't flaunt them on my resume, but i can tell you
i wouldn't have written them at all if i had waited to read a textbook
about it.



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