SQL expresses programs via the relational model. Pandas is similar. I’m not an expert on the areas, but it seems that relational modeling is the best tradeoff b

SQL expresses programs via the relational model. Pandas is similar. I’m not an expert on the areas, but it seems that relational modeling is the best tradeoff between performance and abstraction. To your point, people did have a “programming language” for databases and it was called CODASYL. It died in the 1970s in favor to the relational model. NoSQL and other recent trends have similarly been criticized pretty heavily compared to relational databases. I guess the point is that SQL and friends may feel restrictive but alternatives sacrifice on performance or safety.