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Been using EdgeDB for ~6 months and it's great. I do wish the documentation was better (more examples please!). I spent more time than should be necessary try

Been using EdgeDB for ~6 months and it's great. I do wish the documentation was better (more examples please!). I spent more time than should be necessary trying to figure out simple things like NOT NULL, or how to get a backref for a linked table.

1st1 4y ago
Would really appreciate it if you could open issues in the main [1] repo and we'll figure it out. We're investing a ridiculous amount of time into our docs and want them to be the best possible. [1] https://github.com/edgedb/edgedb https://github.com/edgedb/edgedb
upupandup 4y ago
im hesitant to bet the horse against something this young. I can see the allure of it but there are just as many equal me-too ORMs on top of postgres. The idea of graph-relational is interesting but I'm not sure the pain points it describes (having to use JOIN) is enough to get me to use EdgeDB since it's not really an issue for most use cases unless you are doing very complex queries across dozens of tables. There would also be some friction as to having to learn this new ORM language and having to rely on it completely whereas if we just stick to SQL and traditional ORM that is more popular (SQLAlchemy and SQLModel) we could more or less achieve the same level of productivity (Relational Classes in SQLModel) and still be close to the PostgreSQL, using SQL when we want to etc. Again this is not to bash on EdgeDB just saying its rather tough to have to constantly shift attention to the next shiny thing when the boring way is still a solid ground for majority of use cases. My first impressions were that this is some type of Prisma + Graph/SQL hybrid language but uncertain about introducing more obfuscation for limited productivity gains that I can find. What I want to see are large established companies using a tech for a while, not startups.
- 1st1 4y ago
  > There would also be some friction as to having to learn this new ORM language and having to rely on it completely whereas if we just stick to SQL and traditional ORM that is more popular (SQLAlchemy and SQLModel) You'll be surprised with how little time it takes to master EdgeQL and how much more you will be able to do with it compared to any ORM in existence or even raw SQL. Give it a try. Other than that -- use whatever you like best.
  - upupandup 4y ago
    will give it a whirl
- Kabootit 4y ago
  There is prior art for the "object relational" databases. Used WakandaDB (from the 4D creators) ~10+ years ago fairly heavily and in most ways it was way ahead of its time. The UI editor was fantastic: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/datamosaic/data-sutra-wakanda/master/wakanda-model-example.png https://raw.githubusercontent.com/datamosaic/data-sutra-waka... The query language was imperative in the "fluent" style: var record = ds.Group.query("name = :1",group).first(); Really psyched about what EdgeDB is doing moving this space forward. The declarative composable query language is a paradigm shift imo — not just a better ORM.
  - 1st1 4y ago
    > The declarative composable query language is a paradigm shift imo — not just a better ORM. This!
sedatk 4y ago
Why's NOT NULL a problem? ("required property" syntax is already in quickstart examples)
- RedCrowbar 4y ago
  I think the OP meant `NOT NULL` as in nullness check in queries. EdgeQL uses `exists <foo>` to check for existence of data. We have examples in the cheatsheet and elsewhere but it's probably hard to find if you're looking for "NOT NULL" specifically. We'll see about a way to improve the discoverability of this.
  - sedatk 4y ago
    I see, that makes sense, thanks.

1st1 4y ago

Would really appreciate it if you could open issues in the main [1] repo and we'll figure it out. We're investing a ridiculous amount of time into our docs and want them to be the best possible. [1] https://github.com/edgedb/edgedb https://github.com/edgedb/edgedb

upupandup 4y ago

im hesitant to bet the horse against something this young. I can see the allure of it but there are just as many equal me-too ORMs on top of postgres. The idea of graph-relational is interesting but I'm not sure the pain points it describes (having to use JOIN) is enough to get me to use EdgeDB since it's not really an issue for most use cases unless you are doing very complex queries across dozens of tables. There would also be some friction as to having to learn this new ORM language and having to rely on it completely whereas if we just stick to SQL and traditional ORM that is more popular (SQLAlchemy and SQLModel) we could more or less achieve the same level of productivity (Relational Classes in SQLModel) and still be close to the PostgreSQL, using SQL when we want to etc. Again this is not to bash on EdgeDB just saying its rather tough to have to constantly shift attention to the next shiny thing when the boring way is still a solid ground for majority of use cases. My first impressions were that this is some type of Prisma + Graph/SQL hybrid language but uncertain about introducing more obfuscation for limited productivity gains that I can find. What I want to see are large established companies using a tech for a while, not startups.

1st1 4y ago
> There would also be some friction as to having to learn this new ORM language and having to rely on it completely whereas if we just stick to SQL and traditional ORM that is more popular (SQLAlchemy and SQLModel) You'll be surprised with how little time it takes to master EdgeQL and how much more you will be able to do with it compared to any ORM in existence or even raw SQL. Give it a try. Other than that -- use whatever you like best.
- upupandup 4y ago
  will give it a whirl
Kabootit 4y ago
There is prior art for the "object relational" databases. Used WakandaDB (from the 4D creators) ~10+ years ago fairly heavily and in most ways it was way ahead of its time. The UI editor was fantastic: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/datamosaic/data-sutra-wakanda/master/wakanda-model-example.png https://raw.githubusercontent.com/datamosaic/data-sutra-waka... The query language was imperative in the "fluent" style: var record = ds.Group.query("name = :1",group).first(); Really psyched about what EdgeDB is doing moving this space forward. The declarative composable query language is a paradigm shift imo — not just a better ORM.
- 1st1 4y ago
  > The declarative composable query language is a paradigm shift imo — not just a better ORM. This!

sedatk 4y ago

Why's NOT NULL a problem? ("required property" syntax is already in quickstart examples)

RedCrowbar 4y ago
I think the OP meant `NOT NULL` as in nullness check in queries. EdgeQL uses `exists <foo>` to check for existence of data. We have examples in the cheatsheet and elsewhere but it's probably hard to find if you're looking for "NOT NULL" specifically. We'll see about a way to improve the discoverability of this.
- sedatk 4y ago
  I see, that makes sense, thanks.