Article:		What I Hate About Your Programming Language
Subject:		Re: What I Hate About SQL
Date:		2003-05-14 19:25:41
From:		anonymous2
Yes, SQL is often thought of as Not A Real Programming Language. I think there are two types of developers: those who think naturally in sets, and those who don't. Not that one is better than the other, but I think naturally in sets, and love the logic behind that approach. I tend to solve most of my biggest problems that way. Really, I think SQL's biggest failing is that it is not set-oriented enough, nor is it particularly expressive. That's why triggers, procedural languages, and all sorts of proprietary extensions had to be developed in the first place. C.J. Date and a few of his associates have been campaigning for a better relational language for years (based on TutorialD, or Alpha, or whatever it might be called next -- see www.thethirdmanifesto.com)

Showing messages 1 through 2 of 2.

• Re: What I Hate About SQL
  2005-12-29 04:29:23  Scott_Kirkwood [Reply | View]
  
  
  What I hate about SQL is that it's so inconsistent:
  SELECT <columns> FROM <tables> WHERE <conditionals>
  
  UPDATE <table> SET <column>=<value> WHERE <conditionals>
  
  INSERT INTO <table> (<columns>) VALUES (<values)
  
  Converting an insert into an update or select is more painful than it needs to be. I'd prefer:
  
  UPDATE <columns>=<value> FROM <tables> WHERE <conditional>
  
  and
  
  INSERT <columns>=<values> INTO <tables> WHERE <conditionals>
  
  I'd also make AND interchangeable with WHERE and trailing commas would be acceptable (like in Python), for example:
  
  SELECT
  A,
  B,
  C,
  FROM myTable
  AND a > 1
  AND b < 1
  
  
• Re: What I Hate About SQL
  2005-12-29 09:53:44  ababiec [Reply | View]
  
  
  Don't forget you can also use a subquery instead of a values list, so I'm not sure how your example address that scenario...
  
  
INSERT INTO <table> (<columns>) SELECT <columns> FROM <tables> WHERE <conditionals>

  
  And INSERTs don't require a columns list if the values match the column order of the table.
  
  Never mind examples such as...
  
INSERT ALL
WHEN order_total < 1000000 THEN
INTO small_orders
WHEN order_total > 1000000 AND order_total < 2000000 THEN
INTO medium_orders
WHEN order_total > 2000000 THEN
INTO large_orders
SELECT order_id, order_total, sales_rep_id, customer_id
FROM orders;