I can remember years ago when I first began coding in PHP and MySQL, how excited I was the first time I got information from a database to show up in a web browser.
For someone who had little database and programming knowledge, seeing those table rows show up onscreen based on the code I wrote (okay so I copied an example from a book -- let's not split hairs) gave me a triumphant high. I may not have fully understood all the magic at work back then, but that first success spurred me on to bigger and better projects.
While my level of exuberance over databases may not be the same as it once was,
ever since my first 'hello world' encounter with PHP and MySQL I've been hooked
on the power of making things simple and easy to use.
As a developer, one problem I'm constantly faced with is taking a large set of information and making it easy to digest. Whether its a large company's client list or a personal mp3 catalog, having to sit and stare at rows upon rows upon rows of data can be discouraging
and frustrating. What can a good developer do? Paginate!