July 31, 2008 at 5:05 pm
Go ahead and watch Planet of the Apes, guys. FF to the end of the movie when they're on the beach, and C.Heston & his new GF have just been cut loose to go do their own thing, and listen to what he says to the the young ape.
I guess it was just the second thing to come to mind, after the Faroult book, because I was taught SQL by someone over 30 (70, actually), then re-taught by someone under 30, and it went much better the second time.
And then...:P
August 6, 2008 at 10:43 am
rbarryyoung (7/30/2008)
I know I often say that when someone asks me for advice on learning SQL Server.😛
i would have thought judging by your avatar you would say
"i find your lack of faith most disturbing"
:laugh:
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"Ya can't make an omelette without breaking just a few eggs" 😉
August 6, 2008 at 10:56 am
Perry Whittle (8/6/2008)
rbarryyoung (7/30/2008)
I know I often say that when someone asks me for advice on learning SQL Server.😛
i would have thought judging by your avatar you would say
"i find your lack of faith most disturbing"
:laugh:
That's what I say when they question me or don't take my advice. 🙂
[font="Times New Roman"]-- RBarryYoung[/font], [font="Times New Roman"] (302)375-0451[/font] blog: MovingSQL.com, Twitter: @RBarryYoung[font="Arial Black"]
Proactive Performance Solutions, Inc. [/font][font="Verdana"] "Performance is our middle name."[/font]
August 6, 2008 at 11:09 am
Since I'm over 30, and "learned me some SQL" from someone over 30, I guess you should disregard anything I have to say on this, but here goes:
Spend time on this and other SQL web pages.
Go to a bookstore with a list of specific SQL questions, check as many books as you can for answers to those questions. You'll probably find one that answers the most, and that you can understand the answers. For me, that was SQL Server 2000 Bible, by Paul Neilsen. (Get the 2005 version of the book, of course.)
Do searches in Books Online when you have questions.
- Gus "GSquared", RSVP, OODA, MAP, NMVP, FAQ, SAT, SQL, DNA, RNA, UOI, IOU, AM, PM, AD, BC, BCE, USA, UN, CF, ROFL, LOL, ETC
Property of The Thread
"Nobody knows the age of the human race, but everyone agrees it's old enough to know better." - Anon
August 7, 2008 at 3:51 am
I think the most important thing, is actually doing it.
One of the biggest problems i've seen people face learning SQL is that they'll have the technical aspects nailed down pretty well, but they just don't quite "get it". Knowing how to select data is one thing, but being able to sit down and think about what data to pull out and how is another.
Definately use the tutorials and any educational material that works for you - but use that as a starting point. Play around with it a little bit, come up with queries on your own to see what you can do. Try to think of real-life scenarios, and see if you can come up with solutions on your own. Then try to find alternative solutions to the same problem.
Experience > Education a good majority of the time.
August 7, 2008 at 11:13 am
myke (8/7/2008)
I think the most important thing, is actually doing it.One of the biggest problems i've seen people face learning SQL is that they'll have the technical aspects nailed down pretty well, but they just don't quite "get it". Knowing how to select data is one thing, but being able to sit down and think about what data to pull out and how is another.
Definately use the tutorials and any educational material that works for you - but use that as a starting point. Play around with it a little bit, come up with queries on your own to see what you can do. Try to think of real-life scenarios, and see if you can come up with solutions on your own. Then try to find alternative solutions to the same problem.
Experience > Education a good majority of the time.
Definitely good advice.
I keep a Proof of Concept database. Use it to test new ideas, help on stuff on this page, etc.
I'm always building new tables in there, and then testing all kinds of options on querying them.
On the subject of experience vs education, I think both works best. Best cycle I've ever seen is educate, get experience, educate again, rinse, repeat.
People with no education gain experience more slowly. People with some experience educate more rapidly. But, since you have to start somewhere, some slight education is a great place to start.
- Gus "GSquared", RSVP, OODA, MAP, NMVP, FAQ, SAT, SQL, DNA, RNA, UOI, IOU, AM, PM, AD, BC, BCE, USA, UN, CF, ROFL, LOL, ETC
Property of The Thread
"Nobody knows the age of the human race, but everyone agrees it's old enough to know better." - Anon
August 7, 2008 at 10:32 pm
Still learning SQL -- consider myself a newbie still after 2 yrs becuase I am still learning new things every day -- but I found ; for me and my learning style -
so here are my late-night rambling son the topic....
Understand how the front end app for the given Db works (for me, it is a tracking system).
Study each and every table (ERD be damned). Look at the indexes and triggers for those tables, so you know how the tables 'interact' with each other.
Learn how to do distinct selects.
Learn how to do table samplings (just learned this the other day! pretty cool;) )
Learn how to trap your mistakes, and roll them back.
Learn JOINS. Learn how to write your own views. Learn how to recursively modify data in a given table to fix the inevitable data errors your wonderful programmers will create. (No discussion of cursors.... Choose your own poison).
Learn how to use the tools (execution plans, optimizer, etc). I don;t think they do much good until you understand the underlying nature of the beast.... And our tracking db is a beast....
August 8, 2008 at 3:55 am
Run through this just to get the flavor:
August 8, 2008 at 11:33 am
Still learning SQL -- consider myself a newbie still after 2 yrs becuase I am still learning new things every day....
I'm still learning new things nearly every day, and I've been doing this for nearly 8 years. Hard to consider myself a newbie, but really, I am.
- Gus "GSquared", RSVP, OODA, MAP, NMVP, FAQ, SAT, SQL, DNA, RNA, UOI, IOU, AM, PM, AD, BC, BCE, USA, UN, CF, ROFL, LOL, ETC
Property of The Thread
"Nobody knows the age of the human race, but everyone agrees it's old enough to know better." - Anon
August 8, 2008 at 3:59 pm
Learn how to use the tools (execution plans, optimizer, etc). I don;t think they do much good until you understand the underlying nature of the beast.... And our tracking db is a beast....
Execution Plans? See my post in my blog: http://dbalink.wordpress.com/2008/08/08/dissecting-sql-server-execution-plans-free-ebook/
-Marlon Ribunal
SQL Server Database Administrator
August 8, 2008 at 8:58 pm
GSquared (8/8/2008)
Still learning SQL -- consider myself a newbie still after 2 yrs becuase I am still learning new things every day....
I'm still learning new things nearly every day, and I've been doing this for nearly 8 years. Hard to consider myself a newbie, but really, I am.
GS-
Still a newbie after 8 years makes me feel better... One of the things I love is when our db programmer has me do code reviews... Went from "ummm... whats this mean" to "Why are you joining these 4 tables that way!" & "Hmm.. this query/update procedure he wrote will benefit from a more covered index"... So maybe I am still a newbie, just not a newerbie.. 😉 🙂
September 19, 2012 at 8:07 am
tutblog1 (9/19/2012)
Want to learn SQL?Goto easysqlguide.blogspot.in
Easily learn SQL with the help of images.
The OP asked four years ago so maybe he/she picked up on it by now 😀
August 9, 2013 at 5:08 pm
August 18, 2013 at 7:55 am
May 24, 2014 at 6:18 am
i am beginner is sql as well, i learned a lor from w3schools and http://www.sqlpentruincepatori.ro
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