Re: Would be really nice if...

fitzjarrell_at_cox.net wrote:
> Haximus wrote:

> > Please tell me which Oracle DML/DDL doesn't have a direct natural
> > language equivalent? It's 'natural' to mold technology to
recognize

"Select" - try to explain it in non-computer terms.

> > human language interfaces, that's what makes technology easily
> adoptable
> > by the masses, that's what makes business more productive, and
that's

Hmmm, whatever happened to that "you'll never need programmers again" stuff?

Oh, and don't forget the "productivity paradox." (google for it)

>
> > what makes Oracle lots of money. You must really yearn for the
days
> > when the pocket-protector gang with the horn-rimmed glasses were
the
> > only ones who could talk to a database.

Sometimes, I do. I remember my friend's dad in the mid-60's - Taylor step-cabin (cuddy-cabin boat with built Chevy big-block), Porsche C, Chrysler T&C with the 440, house by Cliff May, gorgeous wife, studio-quality stereo with the turntable mounted on the wall... When Geeks Were Men.

>
> Presume all you like, your 'doughnut' analogy is rife with holes.
SQL
> does not communicate between two people, it communicates between man
> and machine, something your 'doughnut' example doesn't cover. Saying

Actually, most SQL these days communicates between machine and machine - something it was not really primarily designed for.

> "Give me one of everything except the glazed" to another human is one
> thing, as the person on the receiving end can easily discern what is
> available and what is not, whereas your 'select * except ...'
business
> has no logical counterpart; you get what you ask for, even to the
point
> of having an application break due to unhandled columns as
illustrated
> earlier by Daniel. The SQL engine removes only what you tell it in
> your suggested syntax; it has no method of knowing that what you
> wanted, and received, before is the same as what you want now, table
> changes or not. "Hey, someone added col4 to that table, but the last
> time I got this query I sent out col1 and col3, so that's all I'll
send
> out now." The doughnut guy, if you're a regular customer, can, and
> possibly will have your order ready to go as you walk in the door
> (depending upon just how regular a customer you are). He or she will
> know what you want and what you don't, somethiing that cannot be said
> about 'select * except bubba from cletus;', no matter how you try to
> gild it.

It makes a lot more sense when you layer a tool on top of SQL that can do such strange things, given the requirement - just doesn't make sense trying to torture SQL into doing it natively.

jg

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