Relational databases - there has to be more right?

Question

I really enjoy database design and the whole concept of managing data semantically and all the logic that comes with it.

My knowledge level when it comes to databases is

Answer 1

I'll volunteer a list of areas that you might want to consider as aspects of programming with databases. I would not claim that you need to be expert at all of them, or even most of them, in order to be able to program using a DBMS, nor even to program a DBMS. However, they are all topics that are of some relevance at some times - in no particular order:

• Query language design
• Query optimization
• Query rewriting
• Data types
• Storage organization
• Transaction management
• Communications protocols
• Encryption
• Authentication and identification
• Schema design
• Replication
• Backup and restore
• Two-phase commits
• Optimistic concurrency control
• Locking and pessimistic concurrency control
• Authorization
• Label-based access control
• Set theory
• Relational theory
• Distributed query
• Boolean logic
• User-defined types and functions
• Catalog management
• Buffer management
• Sorting
• Internationalization (I18N), Localization (L10N), Globalization (G11N)
• Quantifiers
• Auditing
• Triggers
• Stored procedures

I make no claims of completeness or minimality, either.