What Do You Learn in Database Class?

In the comments to a classic Daily WTF there’s some talk of the author of the particular coding cock-up having no understanding of database normalisation. Some people are attributing this to him having missed his database classes in college.

The thing is, I never took a database class in college. Doing a higher diploma doesn’t exactly expose you to a lot of optional material, and databases just didn’t seem to be considered important. The most we got was half a lecture on database normalisation and a single A4 sheet of notes, most of which was a single example.

Crucially, this actually seemed to cover the entire subject of normalisation. So what do you do in a database class? Joins can be taught in a lecture or two (being generous); stored procedures in less time than that. What significant aspects of databases did I miss when I spent half an hour learning about them?

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