Re: The tragedy of SQL - Mailing list pgsql-general

From Merlin Moncure
Subject Re: The tragedy of SQL
Date
Msg-id CAHyXU0y4hRj=iEs+WnX5EANU5G=vydTpwe9nP7Eu0iHrH0x0fQ@mail.gmail.com
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In response to Re: The tragedy of SQL  (Rob Sargent <robjsargent@gmail.com>)
List pgsql-general
On Tue, Sep 14, 2021 at 9:01 AM Rob Sargent <robjsargent@gmail.com> wrote:
> > ORMs a function of poor development culture and vendor advocacy, not
> > the fault of SQL. If developers don't understand or are unwilling to
> > use joins in language A, they won't in language B either.
>
> Back in the day, within IBM there were two separate relational databases.  System-R (which came from San Hose) and
PRTV(the Peterlee Relational Test vehicle).  As I understand it SQL came from System-R and the optimizer (amongst other
things)came from PRTV. 
>
> PRTV (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_Peterlee_Relational_Test_Vehicle_(PRTV)) did not use SQL, and was never a
releasedproduct, except with a graphical add-on which was sold to two UK local authorities for urban planning. 
>
> So there are (and always have been) different ways to send requests to a relational DB, it is just that SQL won the
day.
>
> Ah, lets not forget Mr Lane's favourite: quel

Sure, I quite like, er, liked quel also, being more mathematical and
formal.  It's a shame it didn't make the cut. This is however a
telling example that standardization trumps purity once languages hit
a certain spot.  There are many languages with dumb things that will
never get fixed :-).  As they say, 'the devil you know'.

QUEL also uses idiomatic english for most operations, which I guess is
probably a contributing factor for developer resistance to SQL, since
native speakers are a minority of the earth's population. Oh well.


merlin



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