starting somewhere

[bluewalrus]

Where's a good place to start learning sql or another databases basics? I've used Microsoft express sql at work, but I've only used it to set up tables never actually coded with it directly. I'd prefer for something I could run on a mac if anyone knows of one that could do that. Thanks for anyway you can direct me.

[Twey]

Probably the most commonly-used database system is MySQL. PostgreSQL is also popular, and far more featureful than MySQL, but at the cost of some speed. If you just want something basic to start out with, SQLite is also available: SQLite is implemented as a simple library, and a database is just a file on the disk (or in memory, if you so desire).

A whole bunch of tutorials can be found for any of the above by searching for "$database tutorial" in Google, but I will particularly recommend this PostgreSQL tutorial.