Methodolgy for becoming a true Developer

  • Thread starter Thread starter Malik Al-Amin
  • Start date Start date
M

Malik Al-Amin

Hi all,

I have a general question for the experts and MVP's amongst us. If this
post is inappropriate for this forum (kindly) inform me and I'll post in the
correct area. :-) What advice do you have in terms of "breadth of study"
for a person trying to become a true Access Developer? Should our studies
be concentrated on a few kore Access essentials or should we spread
ourselves thin by glossing over as much of the Access Realm as possible? I
ask because I find myself being pulled in so many directions. This is okay.
However I want to make sure I'm not doing myself a dis-service. Also Those
who've acquired knowledge to an expert level can share the process and
hopefully some of us newbies will be able to follow the blueprint.

Thanks.

Malik Al-Amin
 
Now that I think about it, it seems some MVPs are fairly specialized or at
least much stronger in specific areas of Access. For instance some work
almost exclusively with ADPs while others rarely touch them. I think most of
us are self-taught at least in Access. We all kind of get started in
programming in Access and then learn more as our projects dictate that we
move into more areas such as Access security, replication, ADPs, SQL
backends, graphing, DAPs, etc.

There are some great books with excellent code samples. Check John Viescas'
web site for recommendations www.viescas.com.

One rule that I progam by is to never compromise on table structures.
 
To my mind the ONE distinguishing characteristic of a true Access Developer
is the ability to model data or Normalize the database. On this I agree
with Duane completely. Never compromise on your table design. The single
biggest problem I have seen with Access applications has been poor table
design. No matter how good a coder you are, if your table design is poor,
your application is poor.

Unfortunately, most Access books devote only 1 or 2 chapters to this
subject. I suggest getting Michael Hernandez's: Database Design for Mere
Mortals. It is a whole book devoted to the subject.

Best of all, if you learn the principles of good database design, you can
use this knowledge in any relational database product -- Oracle, SQL Server,
DB2, whatever.

--
--Roger Carlson
Access Database Samples: www.rogersaccesslibrary.com
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