Re: Is SQL silly as an RDBMS<->app interface?

On Sun, Jul 13, 2003 at 01:24:12PM +0300, Antonios Christofides wrote:
> <snip>
>
> What will the RDBMS do next? It will parse your SQL statement and
> presumably convert it to a tree of conditions. Well, I had that ready in
> the first place!
>
> <snip>
>
> I understand that SQL is the interface between apps and RDBMS's because
> of history, not because it is correct design.  Could you point me to a
> link or book or paper that deals with this paradox? Thanks!

There is no paradox. SQL is a standard method of describing queries that
most databases understand. It is readable by humans. The structures used
within a database are specific to that database and not usable by humans.
The structures used in your code are different from those a database would
use.

SQL is the conduit that allows one program or person to describe a query to
a server without getting bogged down in meaningless detail. In a way it is
like the 64Kb connections in the phone system; each endpoint can be a
person, answering machine, mobile phone service, etc but they can all talk
to eachother because they can convert to a common standard.

So, SQL may not be the best way of doing it but it is widly used and
well-understood. It transports the meaning in a way independant of the
programs using it.

Hope this helps.
--
Martijn van Oosterhout   <kleptog@svana.org>   http://svana.org/kleptog/
> "the West won the world not by the superiority of its ideas or values or
> religion but rather by its superiority in applying organized violence.
> Westerners often forget this fact, non-Westerners never do."
>   - Samuel P. Huntington