Databases are boring
As some may know, I love computers, I love everything about them. I like writing and reading on the computer - the wealth of information is amazing, I like smaller programming tasks (for now), I enjoyed Java, HTML, CSS, my current excursion into ASP.NET and VB.NET, I enjoy working with images and video. But there is one thing that I could never warm up to and that is anything related to databases. Databases bore me - just the thought of gigabytes of data makes me yawn. Unfortunately, the ASP.NET class at Davenport also covers some database stuff. It makes sense I guess, most web-based programs are connected to a database somewhere be it an online shop or a customer list, a service list or what-not. Have I just not found the right approach to it to see the beauty of databases?
So far, I have enjoyed every single chapter of this book, but now I have to force myself through pages and pages covering SQL, ADO, ODBC, COM, OLE and I can’t seem to finish. What’s up with all the acronyms? I have to fight through at least another 50 pages going on and on about data connections and sources, queries and relationships, propertiessssssss - sorry, my head hit the keyboard when I feel asleep typing this. Can anyone help me? What am I not getting? Is there a way to make this more enjoyable? It’s not like I need much - heck, I have spent hours of my life watching my hard drive defrag and download progress bars grow.
Oh well, back to the ADO.NET model….
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4 Responses to “Databases are boring”
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Put on some loud music and give yourself a sip of your favorite beverage for each page.
Databases can be really interesting! That said, a lot of the mechanics of using a database from a programming language certainly can be dull — I can see why things like ADO and ODBC would make you yawn.
My only suggestion would be to approach it in two parts. The first part being the database itself — how schemas are designed; how you might query it for the results you want; how you might make those same queries run more efficiently; and so on. The second part is the nitty-gritty of how you to use that database from your ASP.NET (or whatever) code. The first part might be more fun when you learn it for its own sake. (It is to me, but then it could just be that I’m dull :)) Also, if you do start to find that first part interesting, then that new appreciation for database technology might at least make learning the second part seem more worthwhile
If you’re quite new to the subject I’d say just install whichever database server you prefer (PostgreSQL, SQL Server, whatever) and start poking around in it with the tools that come with it. Design a schema for something that interests you and learn how to query it in interesting ways. Learn about normalization. Read a database book that isn’t also about programming.
And if you’re already quite familiar with SQL, there’s always a ton to learn about how the storage actually works underneath, or how query optimizers make the choices they do, or how transactions and locking are implemented. Modern databases have to solve a lot of “hard” problems, and so it can be pretty cool to learn how they do it.
At the end of the day you might still hate it, but it’s worth a shot
You might find the entity relationship modeling techniques for databases interesting, particularly if you like object models. I’ve got a really fun book on the subject that I used ages ago when I had to learn the subject as part of my plan to get a job in Germany and emigrate; after I finish my current travels, I’ll see if I can find it in the library still and send you the reference.
For me, too, it helps to have a specific application in mind when I’m learning. Otherwise much of the material simply won’t stick in my brain.
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