1) sqlite is so easy to start with, I'm not sure what you mean to "hard to start tinkering"? 2) I'm not sure about your personal experience, but having worked

1) sqlite is so easy to start with, I'm not sure what you mean to "hard to start tinkering"? 2) I'm not sure about your personal experience, but having worked with make files during C programming days, I think you get used to declarative state stuff pretty fast!