>>I've often wondered what it is about SQL that allows them to get over their fear of programming Thats barely programming. Even by the most lenient definition

>>I've often wondered what it is about SQL that allows them to get over their fear of programming Thats barely programming. Even by the most lenient definition what they do isn't programming. Firstly SQL's are a little like Excel Macros, they lower the barrier to entry to basic twiddling. Got a SQL client(Toad etc?)? you can throw a snippet or two quickly. Anything beyond that gets difficult. Tricky joins, sub queries, troubleshooting big queries, optimization problems etc etc. Beyond this writing re usable code, test discipline and a range of other tasks that make code run for years is what is your everyday work as a programmer. Sure you could saw a log of wood once a while, but don't confuse that for being a full time carpenter.