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Fellow teacher here, what method (tools) do you use to teach SQL via SQLlite?

• danso 10y ago
  I use DB Browser for SQLite as the GUI: http://sqlitebrowser.org/ http://sqlitebrowser.org/ Like the FireFox SQLite Manager plugin, it's cross-platform and free and fairly easy for anyone to install. DB Browser's interface is substantially cleaner than the Firefox plugin, though, and the devs are responsive on Github. DB Browser is great, all things considered, but I've never found a GUI that didn't overcomplicate the kinds of simple interactions I want when teaching databases (i.e. 99% of what I teach are SELECT queries). It also makes a few concessions in order to appeal to the Excel crowd. For example, not committing writes to the database until you do a Cmd-S...which contradicts what I tell my students about how SQL gives you more responsibility through explicit and consistent behavior (e.g. when you delete a row, it's gone forever...so don't ever delete things unless you really need to). On the other hand, some of the concessions are nice, such as the ability to rename columns via the GUI, which is not part of the SQLite spec. So I have contemplated teaching SQL from the command line. But I've had a hard time imagining how the steep learning curve could justify the potential advantages for the average novice. Here's a page I wrote up for students on how to install SQLite browser: http://2015.padjo.org/tutorials/sql-admin/getting-started-with-sqlite-browser/ http://2015.padjo.org/tutorials/sql-admin/getting-started-wi... For comparison, here's my instructions for FF's SQLite Manager Plugin: http://fall2014.padjo.org/tutorials/databases/getting-around-sqlite-and-sequel-pro#getting-started-with-sqlite-manager http://fall2014.padjo.org/tutorials/databases/getting-around... (that page also includes how to work with Sequel Pro and MySQL; I soon realized that giving students two choices for learning SQL was a very bad idea and have since stuck to SQLite) Here's a take-home midterm: http://2015.padjo.org/assignments/midterm-wsj-medicare-walkthrough/ http://2015.padjo.org/assignments/midterm-wsj-medicare-walkt... I've found it better to provide pre-packaged databases for students and basically ignore the administrative part of SQL and databases -- e.g. importing of data, defining a schema, creating indexes, etc. -- until we've learned all we can about working with SELECT and JOIN: http://2016.padjo.org/tutorials/sqlite-data-starterpacks/ http://2016.padjo.org/tutorials/sqlite-data-starterpacks/