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Wow, thanks for taking the time for such a comprehensive response/advice. I appreciate. Actually I talked to a few programmers already and no one ever has given

by malte 18y ago

Wow, thanks for taking the time for such a comprehensive response/advice. I appreciate. Actually I talked to a few programmers already and no one ever has given me the advice to start with SQL. However, it seems reasonable to me.

pj 18y ago
A lot of people don't consider SQL programming. Usually we think of more traditional programming languages, but SQL is at the root of most information systems. A lot of programmers don't know SQL, it can be difficult -- it is difficult. But I believe it to be the most powerful programming concept you can learn, simply due to the answers it can help you find.
- hs 18y ago
  you can make sql-like data management using programming languages (see practical common lisp ch 3); however, you can't use sql alone to accomplish what languages can sql is very limiting ... to me, that's enough to justify not investing more time in sql
mechanical_fish 18y ago
Actually I talked to a few programmers already and no one ever has given me the advice to start with SQL. That's actually a tragedy, and I've been guilty of not recommending SQL first, myself. Part of the problem is that SQL by itself is not flashy. It doesn't have a web interface that you'd like to show to anyone (you'd need HTML/CSS/JS skills for that). And once you build your database you generally can't just tell the public to connect to it over the Web -- you need some kind of server layer for that, written in PHP or Ruby or Java or C# or another of the usual suspects. So starting your web development career by learning SQL is like learning to fence by spending the first year doing legwork exercises, never picking up a sword until the second year. But, as my fencing instructor once told me: That's what many elite European fencing schools used to require of their apprentice fencers. [1] And it wouldn't hurt at all to approach web development the same way. Learn the heart of the matter first, and save the ephemera for later. If you can compose a sensible data model (that you can drive using SQL queries from the command line or -- plug your ears, fellow Linux coders! -- Microsoft Access), you'll have a better understanding of the underlying technology of web apps than a surprising number of professional developers. And you're a biz dev guy, so anything you can learn about databases will probably be a win for your C.V. Just be careful: If the word gets out at your company that you can wrangle SQL queries, you might become very popular among the other MBAs. --- [1] They should have required it of me. As a fencer, I moved like a dump truck with one wheel missing. But it sure was fun swinging the sword around ineffectively! I swished through a lot of air!
hs 18y ago
start with typing 10 fingers and numbers (~ to +) and then taming the steep learning curve on vim (and/or emacs) do it like 4 - 10 hrs each day ... come back a month later, if you find yourself still doing it then go for programming

by malte 18y ago

pj 18y ago

A lot of people don't consider SQL programming. Usually we think of more traditional programming languages, but SQL is at the root of most information systems. A lot of programmers don't know SQL, it can be difficult -- it is difficult. But I believe it to be the most powerful programming concept you can learn, simply due to the answers it can help you find.

hs 18y ago
you can make sql-like data management using programming languages (see practical common lisp ch 3); however, you can't use sql alone to accomplish what languages can sql is very limiting ... to me, that's enough to justify not investing more time in sql

mechanical_fish 18y ago

Actually I talked to a few programmers already and no one ever has given me the advice to start with SQL. That's actually a tragedy, and I've been guilty of not recommending SQL first, myself. Part of the problem is that SQL by itself is not flashy. It doesn't have a web interface that you'd like to show to anyone (you'd need HTML/CSS/JS skills for that). And once you build your database you generally can't just tell the public to connect to it over the Web -- you need some kind of server layer for that, written in PHP or Ruby or Java or C# or another of the usual suspects. So starting your web development career by learning SQL is like learning to fence by spending the first year doing legwork exercises, never picking up a sword until the second year. But, as my fencing instructor once told me: That's what many elite European fencing schools used to require of their apprentice fencers. [1] And it wouldn't hurt at all to approach web development the same way. Learn the heart of the matter first, and save the ephemera for later. If you can compose a sensible data model (that you can drive using SQL queries from the command line or -- plug your ears, fellow Linux coders! -- Microsoft Access), you'll have a better understanding of the underlying technology of web apps than a surprising number of professional developers. And you're a biz dev guy, so anything you can learn about databases will probably be a win for your C.V. Just be careful: If the word gets out at your company that you can wrangle SQL queries, you might become very popular among the other MBAs. --- [1] They should have required it of me. As a fencer, I moved like a dump truck with one wheel missing. But it sure was fun swinging the sword around ineffectively! I swished through a lot of air!

hs 18y ago

start with typing 10 fingers and numbers (~ to +) and then taming the steep learning curve on vim (and/or emacs) do it like 4 - 10 hrs each day ... come back a month later, if you find yourself still doing it then go for programming