Peer Reviewed Journal via three different mandatory reviewing processes, since 2006, and, from September 2020, a fourth mandatory peer-editing has been added.
Learning SQL is a common problem for many Computer Science
(CS) students, the steps involved are quite different to those
mastered when learning procedural or object-oriented programming
languages. The introduction of commercial products that
include shortcuts into the learning environment can initially
appear to benefit the student, however, transferring these skills
to a textual environment can be difficult for many students.
Computer Science students are required to build textual SQL
queries because the demands of complex queries can quickly
out grow the capabilities of graphical query builders available in
many software packages. SQL in Steps (SiS) is a graphical user
interface centred around the textual translation of a query; this
combination of a GUI and a clear representation of its textual
meaning has the potential to improve the way in which users
gain an understanding of SQL. SiS allows for an incremental
and evolutionary development of queries by enabling students to
build queries step by step until their goal is reached. A planned
evaluation of SiS hopes to quantify the extent to which the introduction
of such a user interface into the learning environment
can improve the students’ understanding of the language.
