[ddj] SQL Vs Excel Vs Refine

Tue Apr 30 15:03:34 UTC 2013

Base does a really good job of providing a GUI for sqlite3 on OS X:

http://menial.co.uk/base/

All the best,

pallih

-- 
pallih at gogn.in | http://gogn.in | http://twitter.com/pallih |
https://github.com/pallih

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On 4/30/13 2:44 PM, M. Edward (Ed) Borasky wrote:
> PgAdmin3 and phpPgAdmin are the most often used PostgreSQL UIs. On the
> EnterpriseDB Windows installer for PostgreSQL, you get PgAdmin3 by
> default, IIRC, and PostGIS is available as an option. I think the
> PostgreSQL ODBC drivers are there too.
> 
> On Tue, Apr 30, 2013 at 12:57 AM, Friedrich Lindenberg
> <friedrich.lindenberg at okfn.org> wrote:
>> Hey,
>>
>> I think sqlite is great, but it really doesn't do joins all that well. So I
>> think its important that when your data grows beyond a gig and you still
>> need to do joins, you leave ship and use a proper DB server.
>>
>> As for UIs: http://www.sequelpro.com/ is for MySQL on Mac, it's incredible.
>> phpMyAdmin against a remote server can also be good. I use Navicat for
>> Postgres at the moment, but its a usability nightmare.
>>
>> - Friedrich
>>
>>
>>
>> On Tue, Apr 30, 2013 at 9:21 AM, Michael Bauer <michael.bauer at okfn.org>
>> wrote:
>>>
>>> SiFu,
>>>
>>> Exactly what I thought. Don't forget sqlite! However it's still a command
>>> line thing but it uses a simple file as a backend. Mac OS X comes with
>>> sqlite pre-installed - so there is little barrier of using it there.
>>>
>>> Just use sqlite3 <file> and the file will be used as a database - you can
>>> then handle it like any other file (and even send your database to
>>> friends,
>>> plug it into an application etc.)
>>>
>>> Michael
>>>
>>> On Tue, Apr 30, 2013 at 07:41:37AM +0200, Siegmund Führinger wrote:
>>>> hi joe!
>>>>
>>>> don't forget about http://www.sqlite.org/. no server you have to take
>>>> care
>>>> of. it's just a simple command.
>>>> i use it quite a bit even though i have several postgres and couchdb
>>>> servers.
>>>>
>>>> SiFu
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On Mon, Apr 29, 2013 at 5:21 PM, Joe Germuska <joe at germuska.com> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> I like all of Sharon's answers quite a bit. Especially "it was
>>>>> designed
>>>>> for subsetting, slicing and dicing" and "easier to go back and check
>>>>> my
>>>>> work"
>>>>>
>>>>> But I sometimes wonder: when people ask "should I learn SQL?" aren't
>>>>> they
>>>>> usually asking "is SQL really worth all the arcana of installing MySQL
>>>>> or
>>>>> Postgres?" Unfortunately, it is pretty arcane, although the MAMP/WAMP
>>>>> package seems to be a pretty good way to get going.
>>>>>
>>>>> I'm sure people will chime in with other favorite installers,
>>>>> packages,
>>>>> GUI admin tools and the like, but I'm afraid that the plethora of
>>>>> responses
>>>>> is just going to reinforce for many journalists the basic problem—it
>>>>> can
>>>>> quickly become its own adventure. A great adventure, like learning to
>>>>> cook
>>>>> food from scratch instead of from kits and convenience packages, but
>>>>> an
>>>>> adventure nevertheless…
>>>>>
>>>>> Joe
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> On Apr 29, 2013, at 7:46 AM, SMachlis at computerworld.com wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> What I like about SQL:
>>>>>>
>>>>>> = It was *designed* for subsetting, slicing and dicing data. Yes, I
>>>>>> can
>>>>> do this to a large degree with Excel and Google Refine; but with a
>>>>> more
>>>>> complex project -- especially as others have pointed out, with data
>>>>> having
>>>>> one or more relationships between multiple tables -- there are times
>>>>> that I
>>>>> find that using a tool designed for the job to be less frustrating and
>>>>> considerably more robust.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> = If I am dealing with a large data set that is already in multiple
>>>>> tables, SQL makes more sense to be than trying to shoehorn that data
>>>>> into
>>>>> an Excel-friendly format.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> = It helps me think about data in a more structured way, which is
>>>>>> very
>>>>> useful when I've got projects where I'm collecting and storing my own
>>>>> data.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> = It helps me understand what sorts of data I can and can't
>>>>>> reasonably
>>>>> request from government agencies that store their data in structured
>>>>> databases.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> = If I am sharing data with colleagues, sometimes it's useful to be
>>>>>> able
>>>>> to put up a simple PHP/MySQL app on our intranet (Rails or Jango might
>>>>> be a
>>>>> better choice for this, but the shared internal server I have access
>>>>> to
>>>>> does not include those platforms). Even if I'm creating a Web
>>>>> application
>>>>> with a third-party service such as Caspio, I find it helpful to be
>>>>> able to
>>>>> think about data in relational terms.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> = Having a series of SQL commands I can store in a file makes it
>>>>>> easier
>>>>> for me or others to go back and check my work, versus a series of
>>>>> Excel
>>>>> point-and-click operations (or even multiple macros buried in Excel).
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Sharon Machlis
>>>>>>
>>>>>> ________________________________________
>>>>>> From: data-driven-journalism-bounces at lists.okfn.org [
>>>>> data-driven-journalism-bounces at lists.okfn.org] On Behalf Of Andrew
>>>>> Duffy [
>>>>> andrewjamesduffy at gmail.com]
>>>>>> Sent: Monday, April 29, 2013 12:37 AM
>>>>>> To: data-driven-journalism at lists.okfn.org
>>>>>> Subject: [ddj] SQL Vs Excel Vs Refine
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Question:
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Are there any data journalists/devs out there that can advise as to
>>>>> whether it's worth learning SQL? So far a combination of Excel/Google
>>>>> Refine has been more than enough for dumping, organising, and cleaning
>>>>> my
>>>>> data projects, but I have only worked with spreadsheets up to ~500
>>>>> rows.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> What can SQL do that refine/excel can't?
>>>>>>
>>>>>> --
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Andrew Duffy - Journalist
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>>> data-driven-journalism mailing list
>>>>>> data-driven-journalism at lists.okfn.org
>>>>>> http://lists.okfn.org/mailman/listinfo/data-driven-journalism
>>>>>> Unsubscribe:
>>>>> http://lists.okfn.org/mailman/options/data-driven-journalism
>>>>>
>>>>> --
>>>>> Joe Germuska
>>>>> Joe at Germuska.com * http://blog.germuska.com *
>>>>> http://twitter.com/JoeGermuska
>>>>>
>>>>> "Science's job is to map our ignorance." --David Byrne
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> _______________________________________________
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>>>>> http://lists.okfn.org/mailman/listinfo/data-driven-journalism
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>>>>>
>>>
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>>>
>>> --
>>> Data Wrangler with the Open Knowledge Foundation (OKFN.org)
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>>> Twitter: @mihi_tr Skype: mihi_tr
>>>
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>>
>>
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> 
> 
> 

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