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Old 23rd December 2008
Solaris_Delta Solaris_Delta is offline
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Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: North Carolina
Posts: 2
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ephemera View Post
Why do you wish to learn programming? <blunt but well meaning question>
My ultimate goal is to become a database administrator. I know how to set up machines and get certain services configured, but I know I will have to have knowledge about PHP, MySQL, etc but the difficult part is finding problems which would allow me to learn the skills and then put them to use. So, I guess the problem has been finding real, attainable goals.

Quote:
If you have no problem in administering machines, you could start with shell programming. That way you have small tasks which you can automate with a shell script.

My experience is that many people who, don't have any problem to solve, quit learning programming rather fast.
Another problem. Once I get things set up on my FBSD system, they are pretty much set in stone. This may change over time, as I learn more and more (tonight, I'm going to experiment with making jails), but right now I can't think of anything that needs to be automated which as I understand it is the biggest use behind shell scripting. Such scripting knowledge would be useful on the Windows side, where I could automate things such as virus scans, defrags, and disk cleanups.

@ocicat: Thanks for the references. I take a look at them, and hopefully the book will be available at my local library to at least skim over.
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