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Comment by obeattie | Hacker News Reader

>if someone doesn't know what a cartesian product is (high school level math), perhaps they shouldn't be allowed near a database...

This is such an intellectually snobbish position to take. I can tell you that I didn’t know this term when I first interacted with a database, and if someone had told me the above, I would have just felt stupid and given up.

The fact you learned what a Cartesian product was at high school shouldn’t preclude someone who hasn’t from trying to build stuff and experiment with tech. Not everyone learns things the same way, or in the same order, and that’s okay.

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>This is such an intellectually snobbish position to take.

Intellectually snobbish is "everyone should listen to Mahler and read Epictetus in the original language".

This is just basic professional requirement...

>The fact you learned what a Cartesian product was at high school shouldn’t preclude someone who hasn’t from trying to build stuff and experiment with tech.

Just not in any capacity where people depend on their output...

You didn't say "should not be allowed near a production database" you said "database"

That is very different. This was a 16 year old kid trying to mess around and learn stuff, he should be able to be around databases all he wants. I wouldn't hire him as a DBA, but he should be able to learn without having to wait for more advanced math.

>You didn't say "should not be allowed near a production database" you said "database". That is very different.

And that's what I meantt, so since you agree that's "that's very different", we're on the same page.

>a 16 year old kid trying to mess around and learn stuff, he should be able to be around databases all he wants

Well, it's not like a comment on HN is going to stop them.

Well, you were replying to someone who said they learned SQL for their Django site when they were 16, and you admonished them for not knowing Cartesian products and using a database... so it was certainly not clear that you meant a production database.

So now databases should be restricted to professional environments?

No, but people responding to comments should be restricted to using the Principle of Charity:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principle_of_charity

You should be charitable to the creators of venn diagrams and the countless and diverse group of people who've found them useful for years. For instance, it obviously stands to reason that these sort of visual cheat-sheets are aimed primarily at novices, not experienced/professional DBAs.

Should we critique "lefty loosey righty tighty" because a professional mechanic knows that's not precisely true and should be able to analyze the context of the screw to determine whether it's left or right handed? Of course not, that mnemonic is for novices, not professional mechanics.

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