I’ve never touched SQL but some friends said that its a language you can basically learn in an afternoon, so I put it on my CV and applied to some jobs that say they want SQL lol. But now I’ve actually gotten an interview and I’d like to not get caught out as bullshitting - is it as easy as my friends say and do any of yall have some good resources about learning/using it? In the past I’ve had pdfs that take you from nothing to profiecency in a language and I’d love something similar, but now that I’ve graduated I don’t have access to stuff like that anymore. I have a shittonne of experience in python if that helps (although at a glance nothing i’m seeing online looks much like python, but i’m told that you can implement it through python or something?)

Most stuff I can find quickly either try to make you pay for it or they’re videos instead of text and that doesn’t really play well with the adhd. Do you guys have anything? Thanks for the help scamming a corporation comrades meow-hug

  • ChaosMaterialist [he/him]@hexbear.net
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    1 year ago

    The PostgreSQL project has a tutorial in their documentation.

    Section 1 is about setting up Postgres, and section 2 is the hands-on tutorial for SQL.

    although at a glance nothing i’m seeing online looks much like python, but i’m told that you can implement it through python or something?

    Databases allow programs to connect to them and send SQL statements to the database. There are Python libraries that help manage this connection within a python program. After you get your feet wet with the above tutorial, you can start writing python programs that populate and retrieve information via SQL.

    • Lerios [hy/hym]@hexbear.netOP
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      1 year ago

      Another comrade has recommended postgresql too and it looks very self-explanatory, so I’ll definitely be going through that tonight. Those last links seem pretty helpful too, so i’ll try those next, thanks. I don’t know why it didn’t occur to me to see if i could find straight up documentation - docs are always written in a clear way that works for me.

    • Lerios [hy/hym]@hexbear.netOP
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      1 year ago

      Oh wow, I love how clearly thats laid out, plus the little code examples. This is the exact sort of thing I was looking for, thank you rat-salute

  • PeepinGoodArgs@reddthat.com
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    1 year ago

    now I’ve graduated I don’t have access to stuff like that anymore.

    What?! Can I get an example?

    Also, Anna’s Archive probably has what you’re looking for.

    • Lerios [hy/hym]@hexbear.netOP
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      1 year ago

      In my first year we were given a pdf that covered python from “hello world” to literally anything and everything a scientist ever would need for fancy data analysis/visualisation and modelling and such, plus a bunch of real coding skills like classes etc. I wasn’t really interested at the time, but i heard that the comp sci students got similar things for the languages they were covering (now I wish I had have asked for copies!). They were made by the university so unfortunately they’re not available publicly, hence why I’m at a loss of where to find info now.

      But that site looks like exactly what I need! Everything i was finding on google was high SEO trash, but the books on there looks absolutely perfect, thank you <3

  • wheresmysurplusvalue [comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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    1 year ago

    I went through an entire computer science degree without ever taking a database course (it was an elective). My first job used SQL heavily and it was not hard to pick up, if you already have a programming mindset.

  • hexaflexagonbear [he/him]@hexbear.net
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    1 year ago

    https://learnsql.com/

    It’s paid but not prohibatively expensive. The way it’s strucrured is it explains a command to you, gives you an example, and then asks you to do a slightly modified example. It ends chapters with some exercises. Honestly a great resource for learning sql. Literally the only one that worked for me tbh.

    although at a glance nothing i’m seeing online looks much like python, but i’m told that you can implement it through python or something?

    There are libraries that use sql-like queries withib python, you can also run sql queries and feed them into python structures through python. The way I do it is I write up a sql query, test it, add some special characters for myself so I can modify it within python, then store it in a text file to use in python. But sql itself isn’t really pythonic. It’s very straight forward though, if ylu can code in any language and can solve SAT level logic problems, you can probably write sql reasonably well.

    • Lerios [hy/hym]@hexbear.netOP
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      1 year ago

      I’m real broke rn, hence the desperate job search lol, so its a bit pricey for me right now, but it does seem like they do pretty nice courses from what I can see. Maybe once I’ve actually got a job confirmed I’ll swing by there to get up to standard before I go in.

      The way I do it is I write up a sql query, test it, add some special characters for myself so I can modify it within python, then store it in a text file to use in python.

      Okay, that makes more sense than how my mates were explaining it. So I’ll focus on learning the actual sql itself then before i combine it with my python. Thanks comrade

  • ChapoKrautHaus [none/use name]@hexbear.net
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    1 year ago

    The language itself is not hard to learn, but to really use it well you need some understanding of data aggregation and set theory.

    If you have a computer science background it might all be pretty easy. I didn’t and it took me about a year to really git gut in SQL.