SQL is a special purpose language. Special purpose languages can be amazing (and SQL certainly is), but here we’re comparing general purpose languages. In this

SQL is a special purpose language. Special purpose languages can be amazing (and SQL certainly is), but here we’re comparing general purpose languages. In this context, the question is more, are Lisp or Haskell, or Python 10 times as productive as C? I used to think so, but now I seriously doubt it. I mean, the reason I’m so much faster at writing small Python programs than I am at writing equivalent C programs, is because Python’s standard library is so damn huge. This is not a case of the language being more productive, this is a case of the work already being done.