[Dbix-class] Re: Re: Relations and inflation

[Richard Robinson]

On Mon, Jun 25, 2007 at 08:06:57PM -0700, Matt Rosin wrote:
>  ...
> I will do some reading on db design so as to try not to bug you in the
> future too much.  Perhaps because your system is so powerful, it quickly
> shows up holes in one's dba-hood upbringing or lack thereof, and perhaps
> the perldoc is targeted at a similar audience.. in that sense it is a bit
> like handing an automatic rifle to a squirrel. ;)
> ...
> I still think it could use a whole lot more pod for less db-savvy people,
> since everyone is now hearing DBIx::Class is the best (especially for
> Catalyst), which might cut down on ML traffic.

I recognise these comments. That's where I am, too. I started on a
Catalyst-based project a few months ago, and thus find myself using DBIC
because that's what the Cat. tutorial gave me (you'd have to be more than a
beginner before you'd investigate data models other than the only given
example, I think). And, as well as having no previous knowledge of Catalyst
or of DBIC, I've also never worked with SQL before - coming from a
C/Perl/etc background, it's a very foreign language (that's not a complaint.
Where I can see what I need to do, this all works very wonderfully, but
often I can't). In a function-by-function way, the DBIC pods are fine, but
they speak in terms of "I know what I want to do with the database, how do I
do that with these functions ?"; and my questions are more on the level of
what's a good way of representing the situation, what should I be wanting
to do.

Which, I take it, are not really fodder for this list, they're not DBIC
problems (I find myself here because that's the tools I'm using, and that's
not a bad thing, there are clues available from reading discussions among
people who do know what they're trying to achieve), but  - as you say, it's
possible this could increasingly become a feature/faq, if/as more people
come into this. Which could well happen, because Catalyst is _nice_.

So, yes; there is, perhaps, room for some docs in a different, less
close-to-the-code style, a sort of "head them off at the pass" tactic -
'what you should know about sql and design before you start asking "how do I
X ?" questions about the DBIC layer' ? Or just a few pointers, in a
prominent place - surely there must be useful reading on sql somewhere,
already ?  But, I've spent some time with the search engines and don't seem
to have come up with very much that helps (or, haven't been able to refine a
query that doesn't get swamped with too much that doesn't, perhaps). What to
do when O'Reilly don't publish a One True Book ?

-- 
Richard Robinson
"The whole plan hinged upon the natural curiosity of potatoes" - S. Lem