What Teaching Databases Taught Us about Researching Databases: Extended Talk Abstract
Declarative querying is a cornerstone of the success and longevity of database systems, yet it is challenging for novice learners accustomed to different coding paradigms. The transition is further hampered by a lack of query debugging tools compared to the plethora available for programming languages. The paper samples several systems that we build at Duke University to help students learn and debug database queries. These systems have not only helped scale up teaching and improve learning, but also inspired interesting research on databases. Furthermore, with the rise of generative AI, we argue that there is a heightened need for skills in scrutinizing and debugging AI-generated queries, and we outline several ongoing and future work directions aimed at addressing this challenge.
