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Re: Database events
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Re: Database events


  • Subject: Re: Database events
  • From: has <email@hidden>
  • Date: Fri, 09 Jan 2015 17:05:57 +0000

On 09/01/2015 15:14, Bruce Robertson wrote:
Same as it ever was from Has.

Sad, presumptuous nonsense.

Can. Won't engage.

Blather on fiercely do.

Bruce


In other words, you've got no experience of relational databases outside of FMP's sad little echo chamber, and couldn't tell ACID from Lye even if your life's data depended on it. Oh well, your fanboy butthurt and Dunning-Kruger flounce are duly noted.

...

For benefit of folks who are more interested in educating themselves than proving what a special snowflake they are, here's the book I used to teach myself the basic concepts of relational database design and use:

http://www.amazon.com/Beginning-Database-Design-Solutions-Stephens/dp/0470385499

I found it very readable as technical books go, and the principles it describes apply to any relational database that understands SQL. It doesn't get into details of specific database applications (MySQL/Postgres/SQL Server/etc.) but that's no bad thing, and vendors' websites already carry tons of practical information on installing/configuring whichever database app you choose to use yourself.

From reading through the first few basic chapters and dipping into later topics as needed, I managed to design and build several pretty decent databases, fully normalized with appropriate constraints and indexes to ensure data was safely and efficiently managed. Took me a few days initially to fully get my head around relational theory, but once I got into the mindset it was all quite logical and really rather elegant. The SQL language itself is a tad whiffy (being a painfully COBOL-esque mangling of Codd's original algebra), but no more horrible than AppleScript and mostly just a matter of jotting down paper notes on the right syntax for joins and stuff to remind myself later.


Obviously, there's more of a learning curve to this approach, but if you want to build robust, efficient databases which you control from your scripts (which is presumably why the OP is asking here) then you should seriously consider the investment. If nothing else, at least you'll understand just what you're getting yourself into when entrusting your data to the likes of Excel or FMP.

While I do wish there were better consumer-oriented database apps available on Mac, as I said in my first post: if Excel is no longer cutting the mustard then it's probably a good time for the OP to develop some basic relational database-fu anyway. And it's a marketable skill to develop, which doesn't hurt either.

has

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