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An example database would be a
good thing to have! It seems everyone agrees on that.
The question is , what would be a good
example. Which I suppose comes first to the question, as always, of
'the target audience' for Base. More precisely the target for the
example. Another way to look at it would be, what 'skill level' would
be needed to produce a given result. In defining the term 'skill
level', we would be describing these different user audiences.
Here
is a shot at a skill level list ( hopefully others can help refine
the thinking here )
Novice -
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No experience with any type of DBMS.
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Doesn't recognize the difference between a Base table grid view
and a Calc spreadsheet ( Hey they both have columns and rows -
right, so they must be the same.)
Flegling -
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Has the basic concepts down,
comfortable with creating a table or simple form/sub-form with the use
of the wizards.
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Can produce a multi-table query
using the designer and then use this to produce reports via the wizard.
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Is NOT comfortable when having to
use SQL syntax.
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Has difficulty creating custom
scripts.
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Does not have a clue as to what is
meant by MVC architecture.
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Has light experience creating personal forms in MSA, FMPro,
Approach, Paradox or the like. ( But not so much experience that
Base's handling of some functionality differently would be a huge
problem )
Apprentice -
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Recognizes places in the schema
where normalization can be used to enhance data integrity.
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Is using functions within SQL
statements to generate calculated fields.
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Is creating 'applications', by
linking multiple forms together along with custom scipt functions in
libraries.
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Has light to moderate experience creating these database
applications for use by self and others. This experience again may be
in MSA, FMPro, etc. but might also be skilled in PHP, Python, REXX. ( For
this user differences in approach between the package they are
experienced in and Base may actually pose more of a hurdle - if only
because of inertia. )
Journeyman -
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Understands both the generalities of
database design and has implemented these using packages from more then
one vendor in the past.
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Is creating 'applications' targeted
for a specific business field either as the member of an internal IS
group, or for resale in a vertical market.
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This person is experienced in mixing features from differing
packages to attain a given result. ( For this user the differences
in Bases approach to a given task is not the problem, so long as it is
realtvely easy to get to the documentation - The developers Guide is
already this persons friend. )
Anyway, this is just my thinking on it. I would
suggest that it would be wise for us to try and relate our discussion
of what would make for a good base-line example back to these ( or some
defined set of ) user
groups. My initial thinking is that the example is best targeted to
someone in the Fledgling - Apprentice skill level, and if I had to
err on one side or the other, I would try to err on the Fledgling
side.
Trying to focus an example to the novice user might sound good, but
I think you end up losing them much to quickly. What makes more sense
to me is that once the example is created, then there is a wonderful
opportunity for someone to generate a tutorial targeted to this Novice
user that goes into not only the steps used to create it - but the
thinking behind the choices that where made in creating it.
Drew
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- [dba-users] Example database Andrew Jensen
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