Progress and Questions

Greetings, all.

This has been fascinating so far. I've learned to do the basic stuff -
build tables, add columns, insert rows, perform queries, and establish
views. I did that by going through the online manual a number of times
through the end of "Advanced Features." I've gotten midway through
"Functions and Operators" once, and it'll take several more passes through
these chapters before I can say I've begun to learn them.

My experience has been that my first pass results in complete confusion. I
couldn't even repeat what I've read, much less claim to understand it. The
second and third passes come with a glimmer of hope and a tentative grasp on
the material. By the fourth and fifth passes, I'm able to work with the
tools as a novice. I'm sure that a few more passes will reveal that I
overlooked some key concepts so far, and that'll help to shore up gaps in my
knowledge.

So, that's my progress so far. Thanks to everyone for helping me get to
this point!

Here are my questions, one of which might be less technical (and more
philosophical) than the other:

I find that (as I construct the tables, columns, queries, and views) I want
a refined interface for inputting data and looking at query outputs. I'm
going to assume that this chomping-at-the-bit is common. Is there any value
to thinking ahead from the database structure to the ways a client will
interact with it?

The manual told me that a variety of client interfaces already exist, but
that it's most common for the client interface to be built from scratch.
Glancing ahead at the "client interface" section, I saw that the interfaces
are written in another language entirely. I flinched.

This is my first foray into anything like programming; to date, I have been
the most common sort of end-user. I am daunted by the prospect of learning
yet another language once I'm through this one. The broad range of
available languages is just the first hurdle, and already I don't know
enough to make a sound decision. Is there a reason to pick one of those
languages over another? I don't even know what to consider in making a
choice of what to tackle.

- emc