06-26-2015 04:40 AM
I've been banging on about there being no future for the text book as a medium (when compared to the blog) and this book has gone and proved me wrong.
Manga Book of Databases by Mana Takahashi
It takes sensible subject matter and presents it in a truly engaging, interesting and technically accurate way.
It's an introductory book but doesn't shy away from technical descriptions.
Steve
Opportunity to learn from experienced developers / entrepeneurs (Fab,Joerg and Brian amongst them):
DSH Pragmatic Software Development Workshop
06-26-2015 05:16 AM
Initial impressions aside (Manga and Databases, really?) this looks quite interesting.
I'm amazed at how my boys are able to memorize so much stuff from reading the Dragon Ball Z books, way more than they can remember things they "learned" in school I think I'll give them a try.
I might also learn something.....
06-26-2015 09:00 AM
you'll never regret learning databases!
Steve
Opportunity to learn from experienced developers / entrepeneurs (Fab,Joerg and Brian amongst them):
DSH Pragmatic Software Development Workshop
06-26-2015 10:50 AM
06-26-2015 11:03 AM
So does it read back-to-front like a real manga?
Mike...
06-26-2015 11:39 AM
It's standard left to right format Mike
Steve
Opportunity to learn from experienced developers / entrepeneurs (Fab,Joerg and Brian amongst them):
DSH Pragmatic Software Development Workshop
06-26-2015 11:48 AM
08-02-2015 02:08 AM
Having now read most of this book I wouldn't recommend it unless you know absolutely nothing about DBs. I'm not familiar enough with manga to know if this is common, but I thought there were some odd stylistic choices made (such as text which makes it unclear whether this is someone thinking or speaking and who it is or a story which seems fairly artificial and arbitrary). Maybe this is common to the genre and requires getting used to or maybe it's just that this isn't very good. I don't know.
On the DB front, the book has a relatively low SNR and information density and doesn't delve into DBs beyond a fairly basic level. It talks a bit about normalization and goes into SQL only at a relatively basic level, seemingly not going into how to make more complex queries (although I haven't finished reading it, I believe I'm past that part). Because I think the story feels artificial, it also felt like it's just wasting time rather than teaching me stuff. The story might be useful for keeping children engaged, but it didn't really work for me.
Oh, and how do those wings work? Does she have holes in the back of the dress? Are they magnetic?