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"Why do we still use SQL" and "Why do we still use relational databases" are two very different questions. They seem like much the same thing, because SQL is pr

"Why do we still use SQL" and "Why do we still use relational databases" are two very different questions. They seem like much the same thing, because SQL is pretty much the only query language offered by relational database systems nowadays... so if you use SQL, you use an RDBMS, and vice versa. But other query languages used to exist. There was QUEL [1], for example. It seems to have fallen by the wayside; most people have probably never heard of it. I guess there is very little room for multiple languages in this particular space. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QUEL_query_languages https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QUEL_query_languages

marcosdumay 9y ago
SQL is a great language. So great that it's a superset of everything good ever created on this domain¹, but still cognitively simple. There is space for statistical and search-based (like Prolog) languages, but those are very niche. Proof of that is that they exist, but yet nobody here is talking about them. 1 - Ok, object store query languages are not a strict subset of standard SQL. But it's only a matter of adding one or two commands, like Postgres does.
default-kramer 9y ago
Absolutely. Relational databases are so useful that I happily use SQL even though it is not a very good language. I have thought about making a "compile-to-SQL" language in the same vein as Typescript. (Does this already exist? You would think so, but I can't find one.) HTSQL has some great examples of where SQL could be better: http://htsql.org/doc/overview.html#why-not-sql http://htsql.org/doc/overview.html#why-not-sql. I would love to get that goodness in a language not tied to the rest of HTSQL.
- Zak 9y ago
  There have been a few languages that compile to SQL. CLSQL for Common Lisp and Korma for Clojure come to mind.
- jmcqk6 9y ago
  There are quite a few things that "Compile-to-sql". In .NET, the EntityFramework ORM takes the AST from the C# code int he query and generates the SQL from it. I'm not sure how ORMs work in other languages, but I would imagine it's something similar.

marcosdumay 9y ago

SQL is a great language. So great that it's a superset of everything good ever created on this domain¹, but still cognitively simple. There is space for statistical and search-based (like Prolog) languages, but those are very niche. Proof of that is that they exist, but yet nobody here is talking about them. 1 - Ok, object store query languages are not a strict subset of standard SQL. But it's only a matter of adding one or two commands, like Postgres does.

default-kramer 9y ago

Absolutely. Relational databases are so useful that I happily use SQL even though it is not a very good language. I have thought about making a "compile-to-SQL" language in the same vein as Typescript. (Does this already exist? You would think so, but I can't find one.) HTSQL has some great examples of where SQL could be better: http://htsql.org/doc/overview.html#why-not-sql http://htsql.org/doc/overview.html#why-not-sql. I would love to get that goodness in a language not tied to the rest of HTSQL.

Zak 9y ago
There have been a few languages that compile to SQL. CLSQL for Common Lisp and Korma for Clojure come to mind.
jmcqk6 9y ago
There are quite a few things that "Compile-to-sql". In .NET, the EntityFramework ORM takes the AST from the C# code int he query and generates the SQL from it. I'm not sure how ORMs work in other languages, but I would imagine it's something similar.