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Comment by Kon-Peki | Hacker News Reader

My memory could be a little hazy, but I don't remember any required course that dealt with SQL when I was in the CS program at a pretty highly-regarded university 25 years ago.

I took a course in which I learned quite a lot about SQL and in retrospect it was an extremely useful course to have taken.

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I remember taking a databases class (either junior or senior year) that covered database design and also SQL with Oracle. We even got into Pro*C, which was some crazy Oracle-specific C pre-processor. It definitely wasn't required. My roommate took it and failed.

Mine ~15 years ago in the US had a required course that did some relational algebra and database normalization without ever touching a database (as a small part of a broader course, IIRC), and an elective where we did really simple stuff with a database (I came out of it not really understanding the difference between INNER JOIN and LEFT JOIN, for example).

At a Dutch CS study we had an SQL course that started with first-order logic, relational algebra and went to on to project that into SQL. It also taught 3NF/4NF and BCNF, indices, r-trees, query planning and optimisation.

Was this a required or elective course?

The one I took was elective. I am willing to admit that from a professional ROI perspective, it was one of the best uses of time in my entire life and easily worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Required.

We did some in CS101/102 (first year required CS courses). Specifically normalised forms and the like.

We had to do it in the UK, circa 20 years ago.

I avoided learning SQL in the client-server training program that got me started in tech back in the late 90s, only to have to learn it on the job during a global ERP deployment a decade later. Should have taken the class, would have meant at least a few less sleepless nights.

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