Re: [libreoffice-users] Re: database or spreadsheet

On 06/02/2012, Dan Lewis <elderdanlewis@gmail.com> wrote:
>      And it appears that you just explained why people will use
> spreadsheets (incorrectly perhaps) instead of a database. You just
> raised the bar too high for the average person. Why would anyone want to
> learn something as abstract as a programming language before creating a
> "simple" database?

But surely learning the abstract concept of databases is useful for
the general user to help decide whether her/his problem is best solved
using a database/spreadsheet?

>      I think this thread came from a another thread in which a
> spreadsheet was used as a database and the question involved changing
> the names of the sheets of the spreadsheet. If a database were
> constructed to do what this spreadsheet does, that would be time
> consuming and require someone like yourself with a great deal of
> knowledge of database theory. It would probably be very sophisticated.

According to the responses, it seems that if a database structure was
chosen, the original question would not have been necessary?! It is
not known from the original poster _why_ the sheets needed to be
changed.

>      But the original question that began this thread seemed to broaden
> the scope to include much simpler spreadsheets and simpler databases.

That was deliberate: to gain knowledge from others to help me in the
future understand when databases and spreadsheets should be used most
appropriately.

>      For some people, entering SQL statements in to the Execute SQL
> Statement dialog is very easy to do. But doing this would be very
> frustrating to to others because it is hard to tell whether they wrote
> the write SQL or not. For them, using the dialogs of Base will provide
> them with what they need.
I must admit, still trying to understand why base is required as a
"front end" to a database; shouldn't it be more important to learn SQL
first? As an analogy, it is easy to use LyX, but learning LaTeX (and
in turn, TeX I guess!) is beneficial to understanding better LyX.

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