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Pretty much this sums it up. I still don't understand the need for graphql. Then again, it only takes me 5 minutes to add a new endpoint that just dumps back

Pretty much this sums it up. I still don't understand the need for graphql. Then again, it only takes me 5 minutes to add a new endpoint that just dumps back a specific SQL query result. I think a lot of companies make adding endpoints into a big deal, often a whole new file or class with documentation and tests. An SQL query doesn't need tests. I think another part of it is that SQL still scares people. That is, I'd put graphql in the same camp as active record, orms, and other silly attempts at creating a query language to avoiding using a query language.

eurasiantiger 4y ago
>An SQL query doesn't need tests. Have you ever done financial stuff on SQL? Transaction processing or even just CRM/billing? Spend 15 minutes imagining a single query that fetches invoices, combines them with bank transaction data and produces a categorized list of unpaid-but-not-late, unpaid-and-late, not-fully-paid-but-not-late, not-fully-paid-and-late, fully-paid-in-time and paid-too-much invoices for this year’s billing cycle, selected from tables that contain info for all historical years too. You want to have tests for those.
- dhzhzjsbevs 4y ago
  You'll need tests for those on graphql too. I was referring to how hard some companies make it to ship basic code. The graphql setups I've had to work with are all far more complicated than a function that returns an array and if your framework needs more than that to dump it out on an http request, you've got problems, but SQL isn't it.
  - eurasiantiger 4y ago
    GraphQL also has advantages that are otherwise difficult to realize, at least without an API schema. Request and response validation and object-level caching come to mind. How would you otherwise share cached objects between API endpoints? Need to set up a custom redis integration. With GraphQL, such things often come in nicely wrapped packages.

eurasiantiger 4y ago

>An SQL query doesn't need tests. Have you ever done financial stuff on SQL? Transaction processing or even just CRM/billing? Spend 15 minutes imagining a single query that fetches invoices, combines them with bank transaction data and produces a categorized list of unpaid-but-not-late, unpaid-and-late, not-fully-paid-but-not-late, not-fully-paid-and-late, fully-paid-in-time and paid-too-much invoices for this year’s billing cycle, selected from tables that contain info for all historical years too. You want to have tests for those.

dhzhzjsbevs 4y ago
You'll need tests for those on graphql too. I was referring to how hard some companies make it to ship basic code. The graphql setups I've had to work with are all far more complicated than a function that returns an array and if your framework needs more than that to dump it out on an http request, you've got problems, but SQL isn't it.
- eurasiantiger 4y ago
  GraphQL also has advantages that are otherwise difficult to realize, at least without an API schema. Request and response validation and object-level caching come to mind. How would you otherwise share cached objects between API endpoints? Need to set up a custom redis integration. With GraphQL, such things often come in nicely wrapped packages.