On Mon, Jun 25, 2007 at 08:06:57PM -0700, Matt Rosin wrote: > ... > I will do some reading on db design so as to try not to bug you in the > future too much. Perhaps because your system is so powerful, it quickly > shows up holes in one's dba-hood upbringing or lack thereof, and perhaps > the perldoc is targeted at a similar audience.. in that sense it is a bit > like handing an automatic rifle to a squirrel. ;) > ... > I still think it could use a whole lot more pod for less db-savvy people, > since everyone is now hearing DBIx::Class is the best (especially for > Catalyst), which might cut down on ML traffic.
I recognise these comments. That's where I am, too. I started on a Catalyst-based project a few months ago, and thus find myself using DBIC because that's what the Cat. tutorial gave me (you'd have to be more than a beginner before you'd investigate data models other than the only given example, I think). And, as well as having no previous knowledge of Catalyst or of DBIC, I've also never worked with SQL before - coming from a C/Perl/etc background, it's a very foreign language (that's not a complaint. Where I can see what I need to do, this all works very wonderfully, but often I can't). In a function-by-function way, the DBIC pods are fine, but they speak in terms of "I know what I want to do with the database, how do I do that with these functions ?"; and my questions are more on the level of what's a good way of representing the situation, what should I be wanting to do. Which, I take it, are not really fodder for this list, they're not DBIC problems (I find myself here because that's the tools I'm using, and that's not a bad thing, there are clues available from reading discussions among people who do know what they're trying to achieve), but - as you say, it's possible this could increasingly become a feature/faq, if/as more people come into this. Which could well happen, because Catalyst is _nice_. So, yes; there is, perhaps, room for some docs in a different, less close-to-the-code style, a sort of "head them off at the pass" tactic - 'what you should know about sql and design before you start asking "how do I X ?" questions about the DBIC layer' ? Or just a few pointers, in a prominent place - surely there must be useful reading on sql somewhere, already ? But, I've spent some time with the search engines and don't seem to have come up with very much that helps (or, haven't been able to refine a query that doesn't get swamped with too much that doesn't, perhaps). What to do when O'Reilly don't publish a One True Book ? -- Richard Robinson "The whole plan hinged upon the natural curiosity of potatoes" - S. Lem _______________________________________________ List: http://lists.rawmode.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/dbix-class Wiki: http://dbix-class.shadowcatsystems.co.uk/ IRC: irc.perl.org#dbix-class SVN: http://dev.catalyst.perl.org/repos/bast/trunk/DBIx-Class/ Searchable Archive: http://www.mail-archive.com/dbix-class@lists.rawmode.org/
