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In my book the only thing a better sql needs is to start selects with the from clause. -‘from orders select orderid’ Which would make for better autocomplete am

In my book the only thing a better sql needs is to start selects with the from clause. -‘from orders select orderid’ Which would make for better autocomplete among other things.

smackeyacky 5y ago
I lean towards this idea but it might make non trivially joined queries harder to understand, since it shifts the select to the middle or the end of the query. So you change: 1. What I want 2. Which tables 3. Which filter 4. What grouping Putting what you want further down the list might be more confusing rather than less.
- wruza 5y ago
  If that was the case, almost all programming languages had `where`, as in (a + b) where a = … * c, b = … * sqrt(2) + d c = …, d = … …; But that is not less confusing, that is more.
  - smackeyacky 5y ago
    To a programmer, sure, but SQL was designed as a natural language[0] for non programmers and the syntax reflects that i.e I need eggs, flour, sugar and vanilla from the supermarket. Vs Yoda From the supermarket eggs, flour, sugar and vanilla I need. The original use case has long failed, but here we are with SQL stockholm syndrome. I don't hate it, but strictly speaking it is a bit odd. Edit: there was a linguist in the group that developed SQL to help with the goal of making it easier for non programmers. [0] https://www.mcjones.org/System_R/SQL_Reunion_95/sqlr95-System.html https://www.mcjones.org/System_R/SQL_Reunion_95/sqlr95-Syste...
bearjaws 5y ago
IMO it also needs to default destructive statements (update, delete) to one row limit, and you have to explicitly choose to override that. In the last 10 years of my career, many a dev & prod databases have been accidentally harmed by an overzealous query. This could also add a warning for "left-over" non-updated rows, for example if the developer signals that only one row should be updated, but the WHERE clause has many rows, its usually a sign of a missing unique key, something I've seen before as well.
deleted 5y ago
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jatone 5y ago
100% on restructuring to improve tooling. discoverability is the big thing we lack. from would be a little more verbose than necessary but otherwise yes!

In my book the only thing a better sql needs is to start selects with the from clause. -‘from orders select orderid’ Which would make for better autocomplete among other things.

smackeyacky 5y ago

I lean towards this idea but it might make non trivially joined queries harder to understand, since it shifts the select to the middle or the end of the query. So you change: 1. What I want 2. Which tables 3. Which filter 4. What grouping Putting what you want further down the list might be more confusing rather than less.

wruza 5y ago
If that was the case, almost all programming languages had `where`, as in (a + b) where a = … * c, b = … * sqrt(2) + d c = …, d = … …; But that is not less confusing, that is more.
- smackeyacky 5y ago
  To a programmer, sure, but SQL was designed as a natural language[0] for non programmers and the syntax reflects that i.e I need eggs, flour, sugar and vanilla from the supermarket. Vs Yoda From the supermarket eggs, flour, sugar and vanilla I need. The original use case has long failed, but here we are with SQL stockholm syndrome. I don't hate it, but strictly speaking it is a bit odd. Edit: there was a linguist in the group that developed SQL to help with the goal of making it easier for non programmers. [0] https://www.mcjones.org/System_R/SQL_Reunion_95/sqlr95-System.html https://www.mcjones.org/System_R/SQL_Reunion_95/sqlr95-Syste...

bearjaws 5y ago

IMO it also needs to default destructive statements (update, delete) to one row limit, and you have to explicitly choose to override that. In the last 10 years of my career, many a dev & prod databases have been accidentally harmed by an overzealous query. This could also add a warning for "left-over" non-updated rows, for example if the developer signals that only one row should be updated, but the WHERE clause has many rows, its usually a sign of a missing unique key, something I've seen before as well.

deleted 5y ago

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jatone 5y ago

100% on restructuring to improve tooling. discoverability is the big thing we lack. from would be a little more verbose than necessary but otherwise yes!