What kind of a commitment does a person need to make to learn SQL?
It’s the same as the commitment to learn RPG, COBOL, or any other application development language for the first time. You have to say to yourself, “I am going to learn this and use it as part of my everyday job. By using it I’m going to gain experience. I’m going to make mistakes and learn from the mistakes. And I’m going to become proficient at it.” SQL is just another programming language, and you have to gain proficiency with it. You have to understand how it works and how to write good code. How can someone jump into the SQL pool and avoid the problems users faced back in V1R1? Back in V1R1, there were essentially no tools to assist users in tuning their SQL application or in diagnosing why SQL didn’t do what they wanted it to. Today there are lots of tools that can assist the user in diagnosing performance problems and tuning their SQL application. Skip, you have a reputation as a pretty good storyteller. Tell us about how you first learned SQL? I started to work with the AS/400
