[ZF] Is it important to learn the Data Mapper pattern?

Do you think it's important that I should learn the Data Mapper pattern for ZF like the so called "Quickstart" :rolleyes: tutorial describes?
Or is it mostly for coding gurus I'm just a hobbyist?
The tutorial's suggested Data Mapper way makes it hard for me to understand how to use SQL. :sick:

http://martinfowler.com/eaaCatalog/dataMapper.html

http://framework.zend.com/docs/quick...database-table

In some cases, where the data and relations within the data are very complex it can be very handy.
In simple cases (a table that defines some texts and images of static pages) I think it is way OTT.

Thanks you make my path much clearer now.

I don's use it even with large complex databases but I'm not saying it can't be handy - I'm just not used to it.