Re: Advise needed: Can I use/learn Oracle quickly?

Daniel Morgan wrote:

>
> I did not rip him a new one for not being an expert and for not having
> read every document at otn. Heck I haven't either and don't plan on it
> ... I have a life too.
>
> My intention was to let him know that he is wholly unqualified and
> should defer to someone that isn't.

Hi Daniel,

(Please indulge me for a little while longer. I have a serious question about that.)

Why am I wholly unqualified to teach a few newbies the basic use of SQL? (This is not a personaly ego-thing, I just don't understand.)

I have been teaching at university as a student (math and statistics) and received many compliments being a lot clearer than the prof. Therefor I think I can teach.
Of course I can only teach things I understand. I think I understand SQL enough to teach newbies. (I expect you to understand SQL a lot deeper for that matter, but you don't have to be the worldchampion on bycicle to teach your son to ride a bike, do you?)

So my question is: Why can I not use Oracle as a database when teaching basic SQL?
I know I could use any other databse I know already for that purpose. What kind of problems can I expect when I use Oracle for that?

>
> If he knew Sybase and wanted to help someone with SQL Server I'd say
> fine. If he knew DB2 or Informix ... there are considerations that would
> be important. But Oracle is a very different animal. Its underlying
> concepts and architecture are completely different from the others. So
> one can not just do something in Oracle they've done elsewhere and
> expect it to work the same way: It won't.
>
> I'll give you an analogy that hopefully will drive home the point.
> In the US both dermatologists and urologists are classified as
> surgeons. Would you want a dermatologist giving instructions to your
> urologist during a surgery? I shudder at the thought. Same here!
>

True, but I think the following analogy makes more sense in this situation: If you walk into a dermatologists office and start complaining about your pain when taking a leak, he will send you to a urologist.

Same here: When somebody ask me a deeper question about Oracle, I'll be the first to tell them to take a course with somebody more qualified.

I am NOT trying to fool people.
I told them right away my experience with Oracle is limitted to querying the thing via ODBC, more than 5 years ago. In other words: zilch, nothing. Nevertheless, they wanted me to teach them.

That's it.
I hope you can shed some light on my above question. And thanks for your time.

Regards,
Erwin Moller Received on Fri Feb 13 2004 - 04:19:29 CST