SQL and the database architecture introduction were topics that I was very keen on exploring when I stared the course. I have been working with databases for several years, but I was always working with their output. The technological underpinnings of the ILS or DAMS were always obscure to me. I have seen a SQL update query from time to time, but even if I had some idea what that script did, I was not really sure how the process was carried out. After these two weeks the fog has lifted a tiny bit and database management is now less magic and more craft.
To my surprise, I found the CLI much easier to work with tables - altering or updating them than with both GIU applications: Webmin and phpAdmin. It is not that once one gets familiar with them it would not be easier just to select from drop-down menus, but I found both interfaces very cluttered and confusing. It was easier to get to the MySQL monitor and code the whole command rather than to search on left side of the screen than on the top and then in the middle below/between tables and boxes. However, I was missing the Linux' auto-completion feature.
Creating and populating tables was not difficult, but designing the database from scratch was a challenge, especially once I learned about normalization forms, but it still was an interesting exercise to think about the character of entered data and gradually simplify the tables.
The SQL queries were (are) hard to learn and I still need to check the correct syntax for the first line with SQL commands. The parameters are somewhat easier, as their syntax remains the same and does not vary. I had no luck with data aggregation and SQL functions. In the video lectures and examples it looks logical and easy, but when I tried to come up with one myself for one of the practice databases I failed miserably (I was trying to calculate how many images each artist has in collections). I guess that topic will need to be revisited.
I was still impressed by how powerful, yet in principle simple the SQL queries are.
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