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MySQL for Developers

planetscale.com

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Re: MySQL for Developers

#51

Post by asddubs »

aarondf wrote: post #2

Hey HN, I made this course :D The course is a bit more than 7 hours long split over 64 videos. I was always frustrated by the lack of intermediate database content, it seemed like it was mostly intro stuff, or straight to DBA level. So I read as many database books as I could, read through the official docs, and made this course specifically for application developers. If yall have any feedback I'd love to hear it. I…

Since you call it intermediate level, would you recommend it for people who are already familiar with the basics of MySQL? Would someone who has no problem formulating a query to get any given result from a database and knows the basics of how to create indexes still learn anything new from this?

Re: MySQL for Developers

#52

Post by benatkin »

TL;DR starting with a list of the data types before querying the data is putting the cart before the horse IMO.

It seems a bit like DuoLingo. You learn a random assortment of facts, rather than being exposed to what people are actually doing. I learned MySQL by example and this is far from it. I don't recommend learning about the schema or the data types first, unless you're just being shown a CREATE TABLE statement with just the types you need in order to go through a CRUD example (having you start with a table that already exists and do a SELECT query first is also good). Otherwise, like with DuoLingo, you'll likely get bored, unless the reward mechanism grabs you. (DuoLingo is fully gamified. This has a bunch of short steps so you can watch yourself progress through them.)

Re: MySQL for Developers

#54

Post by tough »

ndstephens wrote: post #43
saluki wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Table Plus (Free Trial Version) What are the limitations of the free trial? The free trial is limited to 2 opened tabs, 2 opened windows, 2 advanced filters (filters are not available on the free TablePlus Windows) at a time. We can change the limitations without any notifications in the future releases.

Maybe i'm reading into their naming incorrectly. Free "trial" to me sounds like it's time based...as in after a week you can no longer use it and must buy. I'll give it a try.

It's not time based, only feature based, if you don't need lots of open tabs you can survive it it's only a bit annoying

Beekeeper Studio similarly has a (community edition) and it's GPLv3 licensed

Re: MySQL for Developers

#55

Post by ndstephens »

tough wrote: post #54
ndstephens wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe i'm reading into their naming incorrectly. Free "trial" to me sounds like it's time based...as in after a week you can no longer use it and must buy. I'll give it a try.

It's not time based, only feature based, if you don't need lots of open tabs you can survive it it's only a bit annoying Beekeeper Studio similarly has a (community edition) and it's GPLv3 licensed

thanks for the recommendation. will check it out

Re: MySQL for Developers

#57

Post by aarondf »

asddubs wrote: post #51
aarondf wrote: post #2

Hey HN, I made this course :D The course is a bit more than 7 hours long split over 64 videos. I was always frustrated by the lack of intermediate database content, it seemed like it was mostly intro stuff, or straight to DBA level. So I read as many database books as I could, read through the official docs, and made this course specifically for application developers. If yall have any feedback I'd love to hear it. I…

Since you call it intermediate level, would you recommend it for people who are already familiar with the basics of MySQL? Would someone who has no problem formulating a query to get any given result from a database and knows the basics of how to create indexes still learn anything new from this?

Yeah, I think you would still learn some good stuff! I go pretty deep into indexes and do some fun stuff with generated columns, windows, and CTEs. Based on your comment, you're the person I was hoping to hit! So if you do watch it, lemme know what you think

Re: MySQL for Developers

#58

Post by testudovictoria »

benatkin wrote: post #52

TL;DR starting with a list of the data types before querying the data is putting the cart before the horse IMO. It seems a bit like DuoLingo. You learn a random assortment of facts, rather than being exposed to what people are actually doing. I learned MySQL by example and this is far from it. I don't recommend learning about the schema or the data types first, unless you're just being shown a CREATE TABLE statement…

The creator posted this elsewhere in the comments:

> it seemed like it was mostly intro stuff, or straight to DBA level

This would have been perfect for someone like me a few years ago. I went into my first job knowing how to make simple queries and simple joins. I changed jobs into a legacy system where there was an overwhelming amount of data sharded across few databases and several hundred schemas.

I didn't need to learn how to do simple joins or basic keywords like union and intersect that every tutorial talked about. I also didn't need a bunch of DBA knowledge like distribution strategies, replication, and HA techniques. I needed to learn how to leverage what was in the database to pull the exact data I needed more efficiently than what I was doing - windows, cursors, and good subqueries. I was the type of person being addressed.

Re: MySQL for Developers

#59

Post by aarondf »

ndstephens wrote: post #37
aarondf wrote: post #2

Hey HN, I made this course :D The course is a bit more than 7 hours long split over 64 videos. I was always frustrated by the lack of intermediate database content, it seemed like it was mostly intro stuff, or straight to DBA level. So I read as many database books as I could, read through the official docs, and made this course specifically for application developers. If yall have any feedback I'd love to hear it. I…

This looks great!! Hopefully you can answer a couple questions for me. You mention you're using TablePlus. Doesn't look like it has a free option. Can you recommend another similar database GUI tool so I can "code along"? And is there a database I can connect to and work with? Maybe you answer these at some point in the course, but I didn't see anything in the intro. Also you mention this is for devs and not DBA's. D…

Hey there! Looks like the TablePlus question was answered below. I don't cover connecting to a database and coding along, but that's a good idea. I'll see if I can get the sample data up somewhere for y'all to download.

> Also you mention this is for devs and not DBA's. Do you go over strategies for creating and "maintaining" a new db for a basic app?

We do spend a lot of time talking about schema up front actually! What it takes to design good tables, what data types to use, and so on. I talk at the end of the schema section about migrations and how you can use those to keep your tables up to date as business requirements change over time.

I think if you use a hosted provider like PlanetScale, they (we) take care of a lot of the stuff that was traditionally the realm of the DBA, although maybe not all of it. I don't know exactly where to draw the DBA line to be honest.

Let me know if you have any other questions! Happy to help however I can.

Re: MySQL for Developers

#60

Post by aarondf »

realchrissean wrote: post #53

This is very well done Aaron. I'm curious how long did it take you to create this from start to finish?

Thank you! I shared a little about the process on twitter here: https://twitter.com/aarondfrancis/status/1638191349261377539.

Start to finish... a long, long time. 18 months on and off, 4 months full time. I started this before I was employed at PlanetScale and when I joined PS the course came along with me. I wouldn't have had the space to do it if it hadn't been my full time job. For the past four months or so I've been spending 100% of my work time on it, and much of my spare time.

Part of what made it tough is that, while I've been comfortable with MySQL for a long time, _teaching_ it is a whole different thing. So I ended up having to study a _ton_. Lots and lots of videos trashed when I got to a point of explaining something and realized I didn't know it well enough to teach. Back to the docs to figure it out myself and then back to recording.

I could do it again in about 1/3rd the time, but of course I could! I've done all the hard parts now! The actual recording and editing was of course hard, but the up front work to make sure I wasn't making stuff up was probably the biggest slog of it all.

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