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Re: db interface (was Re: Scheme is too complicated)

On Sun, Nov 01, 1998 at 08:24:59AM +0100, Sascha Ziemann wrote:
> Craig Brozefsky <craig@onshore.com> writes:
>
> I would not prefer a wrapper around SQL.  That has the following
> disadvantages:
> 
>   - This is a mapping from a functional to a declarative
>     language.  This job is complicated and probably impossible.

The point of doing so is to create a library, not a language extension.
The intention that I have is not to create a set of queries that will
query any database, but a database that is created with companion
funcions.  Simply put, an interface to a restricted set of features of the
sql language.

>   - Someone must write it.

I've got a DBA that's volunteered to answer all of my questions.  I need
to learn more about scheme, but I intend to draw upon his experience.

>   - Everybody must learn it.

That's why it has to be documented and easy to learn.  Or it has to be
buildable with a gui, and the output readable.  That's something guile-gtk
is very good for.

>   - It makes it probably impossible to use some DB special features.

More precisely, it probably makes some db special features impossible to
use until something is coded to use the feature.
 
> And now the advantages:
> 
>   - ?

The advantage is that scheme provides a better interface to a database
then SQL, even if you have to use SQL to get to the database.  Within
scheme, you can, for instance embed rules about the grammer of your
queries, and in what order they can be put together.  This can be used to
construct queries instructively, and to make the working of the database
more clear.  Even for professionals who work in SQL this can be helpful. 

I'm not sure exactly how to express the rest of my convictions about why
this is useful, but it is the foundation of something that the free
software world doesn't have, and which is extremely useful for developing
with databases.

-- 
Peter C. Norton                      Time comes into it. / Say it.  Say it.
spacey@pobox.com                   | The Universe is made of stories,  
http://spacey.dyn.ml.org           | not of atoms. 
                                   |
                                     Muriel Rukeyser "The Speed of Darknesss"