X-Original-To: pgsql-sql-postgresql.org@postgresql.org Received: from localhost (mx1.hub.org [200.46.208.251]) by postgresql.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id A16C09FA4E0 for ; Wed, 26 Jul 2006 12:38:36 -0300 (ADT) Received: from postgresql.org ([200.46.204.71]) by localhost (mx1.hub.org [200.46.208.251]) (amavisd-new, port 10024) with ESMTP id 86572-06-2 for ; Wed, 26 Jul 2006 12:38:29 -0300 (ADT) X-Greylist: from auto-whitelisted by SQLgrey- Received: from main2.mycybernet.net (main2.mycybernet.net [209.222.63.140]) by postgresql.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 76F129FB1C5 for ; Wed, 26 Jul 2006 12:38:24 -0300 (ADT) Received: from 227-54-222-209.mycybernet.net ([209.222.54.227] helo=phlogiston.dydns.org) by main2.mycybernet.net with esmtp (Exim 4.62) (envelope-from ) id 1G5lce-00051a-V2 for pgsql-sql@postgresql.org; Wed, 26 Jul 2006 11:48:33 -0400 Received: by phlogiston.dydns.org (Postfix, from userid 1000) id 2E3B43FAF; Wed, 26 Jul 2006 11:38:17 -0400 (EDT) Date: Wed, 26 Jul 2006 11:38:17 -0400 From: Andrew Sullivan To: pgsql-sql@postgresql.org Subject: Re: SQL generator Message-ID: <20060726153817.GC23123@phlogiston.dyndns.org> References: <1153395978.590189.261100@75g2000cwc.googlegroups.com> <60k661a07f.fsf@dba2.int.libertyrms.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: User-Agent: Mutt/1.5.9i X-Virus-Scanned: Maia Mailguard 1.0.1 X-Spam-Status: No, hits=0.135 tagged_above=0 required=5 tests=FORGED_RCVD_HELO X-Spam-Level: X-Archive-Number: 200607/319 X-Sequence-Number: 25893 On Wed, Jul 26, 2006 at 10:21:01AM -0500, Aaron Bono wrote: > Bottom line though, just how difficult is SQL to read and write anyway? It > is a hell of a lot easier to read and write than any other computer language > I have seen. It's not SQL. It's the notion of relations. If the language were QUEL or ENGLISH (a PICK variant) or whatever you have, but relations underneath, the same problem would be happening. Remember, even people who ought to understand this stuff, like developers who program against databases for a living, frequently get it wrong. I'm not surprised that casual users can accidentally do a 5-way Cartesian product. But it would make no difference if the commands were specified in natural language, because the conceptual confusion is the problem. A -- Andrew Sullivan | ajs@crankycanuck.ca A certain description of men are for getting out of debt, yet are against all taxes for raising money to pay it off. --Alexander Hamilton