4 ms·

Ultorg: A General-Purpose User Interface for Relational Databases (2020) [video]

54 points by ivank 5y ago

ivank 5y ago
http://www.ultorg.com/ http://www.ultorg.com/ https://twitter.com/ultorg https://twitter.com/ultorg
beaconstudios 5y ago
This makes a lot of sense. In my tinkering with what a radically clarified form of programming would look like, I've come to believe that any such effort would have to be built around a database at its core. Personally, I think graph databases are a more intuitive fit for how we think about objects and their relationships to each other, but relational dbs are pretty close too.
- convolvatron 5y ago
  they should be really two views of the same thing?
  - beaconstudios 5y ago
    A graph and tables are similar perspectives but different in a number of really important ways. Tables generally lend themselves best to analysis of homogeneous data within a small number of tables for example, while graph databases make it easy to perform deep queries across many different schemas while still keeping the resultant objects separate.
- CharlesW 5y ago
  Have you ever checked out FileMaker[0]? It's a database-centric app builder, and I have fond memories of building cool stuff with it back in the 1990s. (FileMaker is 36 years old!) [0] https://www.claris.com/filemaker/ https://www.claris.com/filemaker/
  - beaconstudios 5y ago
    I'm aware of its existence but have never really used it unfortunately.
akvadrako 5y ago
Just skipped to the middle of that video and see the other 3 participants are pretty weird. They are constantly holding big smiles with their teeth showing. That can't be real.
- cdcarter 5y ago
  Those are photographs of the participants.
jhgb 5y ago
Anyone here nostalgic for Dabble DB? That's probably the first thing that came to my mind when I saw this.
arnarbi 5y ago
The part of the demo where he creates a computed field inside the sub-result (in a hierarchy), and then uses that in an aggregate at the next level above is excellent. And then he can still see the constituent rows contributing to the aggregate and continue adding filters on them. I am sold, even as someone comfortable with writing complex queries.
- emj 5y ago
  Thanks! The setup for that is 20 minutes in https://youtu.be/tGzJ8F9rC1s?t=1280 https://youtu.be/tGzJ8F9rC1s?t=1280 and does that second part 6 minutes after, with more complex filters later on.
lioeters 5y ago
Also of interest, an article from the research project on which Ultorg is based: Expressive Query Construction through Direct Manipulation of Nested Relational Results http://people.csail.mit.edu/ebakke/research/sieuferd_sigmod2016.pdf http://people.csail.mit.edu/ebakke/research/sieuferd_sigmod2... (PDF)
eternityforest 5y ago
Seems very much needed. Direct access to production databases with current tools is clearly not safe.

54 points by ivank 5y ago

http://www.ultorg.com/ http://www.ultorg.com/ https://twitter.com/ultorg https://twitter.com/ultorg

This makes a lot of sense. In my tinkering with what a radically clarified form of programming would look like, I've come to believe that any such effort would have to be built around a database at its core. Personally, I think graph databases are a more intuitive fit for how we think about objects and their relationships to each other, but relational dbs are pretty close too.

convolvatron 5y ago
they should be really two views of the same thing?
- beaconstudios 5y ago
  A graph and tables are similar perspectives but different in a number of really important ways. Tables generally lend themselves best to analysis of homogeneous data within a small number of tables for example, while graph databases make it easy to perform deep queries across many different schemas while still keeping the resultant objects separate.
CharlesW 5y ago
Have you ever checked out FileMaker[0]? It's a database-centric app builder, and I have fond memories of building cool stuff with it back in the 1990s. (FileMaker is 36 years old!) [0] https://www.claris.com/filemaker/ https://www.claris.com/filemaker/
- beaconstudios 5y ago
  I'm aware of its existence but have never really used it unfortunately.

akvadrako 5y ago

Just skipped to the middle of that video and see the other 3 participants are pretty weird. They are constantly holding big smiles with their teeth showing. That can't be real.

cdcarter 5y ago
Those are photographs of the participants.

jhgb 5y ago

Anyone here nostalgic for Dabble DB? That's probably the first thing that came to my mind when I saw this.

arnarbi 5y ago

The part of the demo where he creates a computed field inside the sub-result (in a hierarchy), and then uses that in an aggregate at the next level above is excellent. And then he can still see the constituent rows contributing to the aggregate and continue adding filters on them. I am sold, even as someone comfortable with writing complex queries.

emj 5y ago
Thanks! The setup for that is 20 minutes in https://youtu.be/tGzJ8F9rC1s?t=1280 https://youtu.be/tGzJ8F9rC1s?t=1280 and does that second part 6 minutes after, with more complex filters later on.

lioeters 5y ago

Also of interest, an article from the research project on which Ultorg is based: Expressive Query Construction through Direct Manipulation of Nested Relational Results http://people.csail.mit.edu/ebakke/research/sieuferd_sigmod2016.pdf http://people.csail.mit.edu/ebakke/research/sieuferd_sigmod2... (PDF)

eternityforest 5y ago

Seems very much needed. Direct access to production databases with current tools is clearly not safe.