I need to teach my two interns how to use RDBMSes in general and \"standard\" SQ
ID: 661308 • Letter: I
Question
I need to teach my two interns how to use RDBMSes in general and "standard" SQL during their free time, using the outdated windows notebooks we have laying around. They come from math courses and have had little contact with programming.
Which database management system should I use to teach them? I need something with a trivial importexport interface, loading data to MS SQL Server Express can be a pain sometimes.
My long term goals are: Enable them to use the MS SQL Server we have at work, and to use Pentaho to visualize data on that server.
Explanation / Answer
I'd give them sqlite - it's perfect for beginning situations like this:
The DB is in a single file, making it really easy to start using, and really easy to reset if you screw it up.
The DB engine is a single executable - just type sqlite3 <db file name> to get started.
Imports from CSV are pretty easy.
Supports the usual set of SQL operations.
The documentation is right on the website, and is very good.
They'll have some adjustment when they switch to MS SQL Server, but that's true no matter what you start them out with - every DB has it's own take on things and odd quirks.