An example:
```
SELECT common_name, COUNT(*)
FROM biology
WHERE common_name LIKE '%lady%'
GROUP BY common_name
ORDER BY common_name;
```
gives the same results as
```
SELECT common_name, COUNT(common_name)
FROM biology
WHERE common_name LIKE '%lady%'
GROUP BY common_name
ORDER BY common_name;
```
when there are no nulls (missing values) in the common_name field.
And without some clues in the assignment text, it isn't possible to know which one their JS-based checker will accept. So in the majority of assignments, I get things like this "wrong" in the first pass.
I've lately been vocal about my perception that quality control and beta testing should have exposed such things and led to their correction before deployment to paying customers.
In the case of the #SQL courses, I did recently have a multi-part assignment where they asked for the NOT NULL version from the start, but only in the 3rd or 4th part of the assignment did they expressly say they wanted that and use pre-entered SQL scaffolding to show why it matters in that specific case.
In other news, I've temporarily de-emphasized both #Python and #R-lang (and delayed my exploration of #Julia) because I'm on a "track" that focuses on SQL. At the current rate, I should be finished with the SQL track & emphasis in a month or so.
I've also noticed they have some courses that cover MSExcel / PowerBI, Tableau, Google Sheets, and (of course) "AI". I expect to take the intro courses for most of these topics. I don't typically use spreadsheets except as gridded formatting tools for lists, but many years ago I used Lotus 1-2-3 and Quattro Pro and even took some classes. So relearning such things as formulas and internal scripting may be helpful in making these tools more broadly useful.
But it no longer feels so. Maybe it was a case of "you have to move fast to fix things" and as incumbents raise their game the window of opportunity closes. The vast investment in established stacks incentivises patching the most egregious weaknesses.
One exception seems #golang, which found a network niche
Its a bit of a pity that the technology aspects of the project are overshadowed by what feels like a VC engineered drama to create publicity, build a moat and capitalize on eventual adoption.
Not to belittle the challenge of funding the development of a major new #opensource stack but both #rust and #julia happened without much fanfare.
"Great language" is merely a subjective statement. #R has long dropped outside the top 20 of the most used languages in the world and the trend only points downwards. It is in the bottom half of #StackOverflow 's admiration ranking and scores less than 4% in the desirable ranking. In contrast, recent languages like #Flow, #Julia, #Mojo, etc yield pretty much the opposite dynamics at the moment.
I am Ștefan (ș as sh, I also accept Stephan or the equivalent in your language). I’m 21 years old, ♑, he/him, proud #leftist and soon to graduate CS @ UVABc. Sort of proudly living in #romania. My native language is Romanian, fairly proficient at English, slowly learning #finnish (and #italian).