Semi-OT: Database for "average" users

phil phillip-l+pbsqP8NtUm29vl6s1fFg at public.gmane.org
Sat Apr 30 19:36:30 UTC 2005


On Apr 30, 2005, at 1:38 PM, billt-lxSQFCZeNF4 at public.gmane.org wrote:

> The real problem is that a database is something that provides you a 
> set of mechanisms to represent your data. It isn't anymore a solution 
> than a hammer, a screw driver and saw is to the problem of 
> homelessness.

Right, but the same kind of analogy could be made regarding a word 
processor.  You still need to know how to structure the information 
well beyond the hints that the software provides.

The difference -- as I see it -- is that with WP software, you can 
write a shopping list without knowing anything about paragraphs, 
footnotes, macros, whatever...but they're available when you need them. 
  With DB software, it doesn't seem that there's any provision for "just 
getting something simple accomplished" before leaping off into the 
world of normalization, foreign keys, and the rest of the jargon.  
Maybe that's just the way it is and can't be any other way, but I do 
wonder.

........................
Phillip Mills
Multi-platform software development
(416) 224-0714

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