> I decided to write a program that clicked on things. I cringed a little. I'm glad he's learned enough to know now that this is not the right approach.
I thought this way before, and looked down on what I had made, but I'm slowly coming around to the idea that its more about how well the approach works and what it teaches you than about the technical details. I definitely wouldn't code it the same way today, but it worked well and taught me a lot. I wouldn't stop anyone who's in a similar position from doing the same.
I also have to wonder if you even could have used a api-approach, especially for that second db which was it's own program and was likely monkeyed together by interns over a summer.