I'm a rank beginner. (I took a mickeymouse DB course a few years ago;
that's the extent of my DB background.) I want to become proficient
with PostgreSQL, and I thought I would use a personal project as the
vehicle for learning. (I realize that PostgreSQL maybe complete
overkill for *this* project, but I have heftier applications in mind
for the future.)

My pilot learning project is to set up a system to help me with the
recording of several TV shows I follow. This system should keep track
of the episodes I've recorded and of the episodes that are scheduled
to show in the future (this info can be scraped from the Web), plus a
few other details, and send me appropriate reminders by e-mail. I
envision this system as a PostgreSQL database with a Perl front-end
(although I'm open to the possibility of a Python or Ruby front-end).
The "front-end" will handle everything (Web scraping, e-mail
notifications, etc.) other than what's taken care of by the PostgreSQL
DB.

I just installed PostgreSQL in my machine (OS=Linux Debian). Where to
next? What should I be reading to get to the point of being able to
set up the PostgreSQL component of "learning project" as quickly as
possible?

Thanks!

kynn


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TIP 8: explain analyze is your friend

Kynn,

http://www.postgresql.org/users-lounge/books.html

--
-Josh Berkus
Aglio Database Solutions
San Francisco


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kynn......

Check that you can connect to the database from as a user. If not, maybe
you can connect to it from pg's root, postgres, I think, in Debian. Then
figure out how to connect as another user.

Create a database (from root postgres? I forget). Then make a short file
defining a table and a few rows of data and put it in from pgsql command
line tool. Something simple, just to test.

Read it out, using pgsql, enter a select statement a see your table.

So now you know the server is working, it has a database with a table of
your data, and some user can connect and read it from the command line
using pgsql.

Next write a short perl script to connect and read the data. Then try
putting a copy of it in public_html and access it through Apache....

lynx 127.0.0.1/~user/script.pl

Sounds simple, but by the time you get this far you'll be well on your way
to learning the HowTo. Of course, then you go on to the other stuff, but
if you're like me it was so frustrating to get this far, but when you
figure it out you'll really know!

Of course, I don't know how much you know about Debian already, but it
probably took me about a week working a couple of hours a day to get this
far, if I recall. Embarrassing, really, but that's how I learn.

I like to use php under Apache for web connections to the database and
perl for background maintenance tasks, running them with cron, but of
course you can do it lots of ways.

Hope this helps..... but you WILL need to do lots of reading, too.

brew

================================================== ========================
Strange Brew (brew (AT) theMode (DOT) com)
Check out my Musician's Online Database Exchange (The MODE Pages)
http://www.TheMode.com
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TIP 9: the planner will ignore your desire to choose an index scan if your
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