I agree, I was always so so about SQL until I had to use a lot of it. The syntax isn't amazing, but the relational model works really well once you can think in

I agree, I was always so so about SQL until I had to use a lot of it. The syntax isn't amazing, but the relational model works really well once you can think in sets. The declarative nature of it means that if I push stuff from the app layer to the database layer its usually less buggy and has better performance.