SQL, lite lite lite

Bruno Desthuilliers bruno.42.desthuilliers at websiteburo.invalid
Tue Dec 30 10:34:21 CET 2008

Johannes Bauer a écrit :
> Even if it took (as you mentioned) a semester of SQL studies - which it
> does not - why do you think your syntax is easier? The only person your
> proposed syntax is easier for is you. Get over it, learn SQL, and enjoy
> the benefits of one unified standard - not everyone cooking their own
> soup. You'll be able to learn PostgreSQL, Oracle SQL, mySQL, SQlite all
> at once!

Oh what a beautiful dream... We all wish we'd live in such a perfect 
world. Sadly, it's not the case. First because each SQL vendor cooks its 
own soup, so you still have to learn each SQL implementation, 
limitations and gory details. Also, because handling SQL queries as raw 
strings is more than painfull. It just doesn't play well with the host 
language. So any non trivial project ends up reinventing its own 
half-backed abstraction layer, that you have to learn too.

Now I don't mean that learning SQL (and the relational theory behind 
SQL) is a waste of time. You obviously need a good understanding of SQL 
to use a SQL database - directly or thru any abstraction layer. We 
definitively agree on this. But a smart abstraction layer (like 
SQLAlchemy, or even the less powerfull but still pretty good Django ORM) 
   at least avoids reinventing a new one for each project.

My 2 cents...

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