When should I need to learn MySQL?

[PenguinManiac]

As I understand, the only way to manage databases efficiently is by using MySQL and akin languages (although I admittedly don't recall any right now). Databases are also used by CMSs like WordPress, so it's the kind of knowledge that would come handy to have to deal with some problems arising from its usage... would it?

Is it necessary to learn MySQL if you're just planning to work on standard websites? (e.g. business websites, personal websites, etc.)

 

[Rob Whisonant]

No you don't need to learn mySQL to manage regular websites. The only time you need to learn it is if you are building custom database driven sites.

I would say the vast majority of website designers don't know a single thing about how to program or use mySQL.

 

[PenguinManiac]

PenguinManiac

That's such a relief! Maybe that's not always the case, but my guess is that most websites that need a database would be too big of a project to be handled by a single developer anyway, right? I see it as more of a specialistic language that could help you if you're planning to get equally specific job. Thanks for the answer!

 

[Rob Whisonant]

Rob Whisonant

99% of the database stuff you would run in to is going to be handled by the platform you install. For example, Wordpress. When you install it, the install script handles all the database installation for you.

One thing you will want to learn, and this is easy, is to create empty databases and database users through cpanel. But, there is a mySQL database wizrd in cpanel that walks you through the simple process.

 

[Mike001]

Rob, as much as I normally value your opinion and love to agree with you on most thing, on this topic I have to disagree.

Anyone that is enrolled in any accredited college that is looking to get a degree in web engineering or web development are required to learn a variety of database skills. MySQL is the most popular database for the web that is currently out there. There are a few others that a trying to catch up, but they are still way behind.

Professional web developers, web engineers and IT architects all will need a background in dynamic web deployment. If I had to guess over 60% of the commercial websites, and I think that number is low, are database driven. And I know of no commercial enterprise of any stature that would ever deploy WordPress, Joomla, or any of the other out of the box platforms that are currently in use by the blogging community. They are too big a target for hacking.

If you truly want to make money in web development, and are looking for that as a career. You must know how to build, configure, optimize, develop and design commercial quality CMS systems. They will always include database driven content and database management. Which will also include database security.

If you are honest with your customers, nothing out of the box, with all the flaws, security holes, development bloat, lack of proper HTML structure, lack of proper CSS utilization and the inadequacies of the SEO will ever meet a commercial customers requirements.

So yes PenquinManiac, if you want to be a good web developer you will need to learn database management and database design. With one of the more popular database languages. MySQL is probably one of the easiest to learn and once you learn the fundamentals of database design it can be carried over to most all the other database structures.

Now on the other hand if you don't want to be a leader in your field, that is even better for me. I get to go in and fix many of the developments that other people have botched up ... and believe me it cost a customer much more to fix an existing platform, than to design a new one......

Just food for thought.....

 

[Rob Whisonant]

Rob Whisonant

Actually I don't think we are disagreeing at all. We are just looking at different experience levels. If you are just starting out and only doing basic website designs, you don't need to be a mySQL programmer.

But.... Like you said, if you want to be a great website designer and tops in the field, yes you would need to learn mySQL and a whole lot of other stuff. I 100% agree with you.

 

[PenguinManiac]

99% of the database stuff you would run in to is going to be handled by the platform you install. For example, Wordpress. When you install it, the install script handles all the database installation for you.

Yeah, come to think about it, all news and articles have to be stored and arranged somewhere. It's good for a blogging-centric platform to handle with such thorny matters itself.

Rob, as much as I normally value your opinion and love to agree with you on most thing, on this topic I have to disagree.

Anyone that is enrolled in any accredited college that is looking to get a degree in web engineering or web development are required to learn a variety of database skills. MySQL is the most popular database for the web that is currently out there. There are a few others that a trying to catch up, but they are still way behind.

Professional web developers, web engineers and IT architects all will need a background in dynamic web deployment. If I had to guess over 60% of the commercial websites, and I think that number is low, are database driven. And I know of no commercial enterprise of any stature that would ever deploy WordPress, Joomla, or any of the other out of the box platforms that are currently in use by the blogging community. They are too big a target for hacking.

If you truly want to make money in web development, and are looking for that as a career. You must know how to build, configure, optimize, develop and design commercial quality CMS systems. They will always include database driven content and database management. Which will also include database security.

If you are honest with your customers, nothing out of the box, with all the flaws, security holes, development bloat, lack of proper HTML structure, lack of proper CSS utilization and the inadequacies of the SEO will ever meet a commercial customers requirements.

So yes PenquinManiac, if you want to be a good web developer you will need to learn database management and database design. With one of the more popular database languages. MySQL is probably one of the easiest to learn and once you learn the fundamentals of database design it can be carried over to most all the other database structures.

Now on the other hand if you don't want to be a leader in your field, that is even better for me. I get to go in and fix many of the developments that other people have botched up ... and believe me it cost a customer much more to fix an existing platform, than to design a new one......

Just food for thought.....

I can only imagine how tedious fixing up a structure created by someone else must be, especially without proper commenting and standard procedures. It's only happened to me a few times with really simple HTML/CSS structure, that must be hellish with MySQL.
So, is the final objective of learning MySQL to create custom CMSs? Would there be any other occurrence in which you could make use of MySQL knowledge on its own?
Being able to create a custom CMS sounds like an invaluable resource, but, to my understanding, that requires a deep knowledge of both database design and other languages that will actually manage the data there, like PHP, in most cases. As I currently have no knowledge of either, the prospect of having to learn both is kind of scary. I'm currently not interested in pursuing web development as a career, but I'm considering of turning it from a hobby into a plan B, which is why I'm trying to get more serious about it. Is building a custom CMS really as hard as it sounds? Given how huge WordPress is, my mind first wanders towards it when I think of it.

Thanks a lot for the answer!

 

[Mike001]

It can be tedious. But it is fun. I comment, and I teach my students to comment everything they do. Even when writing your own code, when you come back to it in a few months or a year, a good comment can remind you why you wrote the code the way you did. Because there are many ways to accomplish the same thing when coding.

Once you learn the MySQL structure of querying a database, the structure is very similar in many other database languages and is used in a large variety of areas other than Blogging in web development. The website I use for training is completely data driven. It is nothing like a Blog. Facebook, YouTube, Amazon, eBay, all data drive and all written with MySQL. Although Amazon is in the process of moving to visual data system.

Creating a custom CMS or Blog system as many people refer to them, is not near as difficult as most people think. If you have ever visited my training site you will see I have a full blown course on just that topic. It is 17 hours of HQ 1280 x 720 videos on creating a Custom Blog System. Takes you step by step through the entire process. From 0 to hero. LOL. When I put together the video series I based the course on the exact same course I teach at the University. Enough of self promotion.

There are many technologies for web development. Probably hundreds of them if you really dive deep into the systems. But a good web developer can get by with just a few of those. HTML, CSS, PHP, JavaScript, jQuery (which is really a subset of JavaScript) and MySQL. I have developed 100's of commercial sites, over 99% of those are written in those technologies.

I hope that helps.

 

[HostLittle]

As I understand, the only way to manage databases efficiently is by using MySQL and akin languages (although I admittedly don't recall any right now). Databases are also used by CMSs like WordPress, so it's the kind of knowledge that would come handy to have to deal with some problems arising from its usage... would it?

Is it necessary to learn MySQL if you're just planning to work on standard websites? (e.g. business websites, personal websites, etc.)

I rarely use SQL when managing / working on websites. You will need to know SQL if you ever plan on building any type of completely custom website.

I also use SQL a lot at my job, SQL is very valuable to employers!

 

[Mike001]

You must not work on very many websites. Data languages are used in almost all commercial sites, custom or otherwise. I have been trying to think of any commercial sites I have maintained over the last 10 years that were not data driven and I cannot come up with one.

Even things as simple as inventory control, payroll, time management, scheduling, marketing, and the list goes on and on are all related to data structures.

Having the ability to have your staff enter site information, without any knowledge of HTML or CSS is a huge selling point of dynamic web design. I have sold more dynamic sites to customers after they understood that once the site was created they could modify there content without any technical help from my staff or I sold the site all on its own. They love the ability to use an administrative back end to add, remove, update their content.