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SQL might be in its own category or not, but it shares a trait that languages in other categories ended up with: "I know, we'll make it kind of like writing English so that people who aren't experts can program!".

This is one of those things that seems to keep coming back - recently in the Ruby world with Cucumber.




I suspect that idea is now dead. Anything new that accepts something that looks like natural language now needs to be at least as smart as ChatGPT. Stuff that sort of looks like a natural language but is really a formal language now comes across badly.

There have been very few non-English programming languages. There was a French version of COBOL once. I'm surprised that something hasn't come out of China. There's a Chinese dialect of Python. Does anyone use that?


Interesting point about AI... that really could be a game changer, although to me it doesn't feel like it's as precise as we often ask code to be. Yet.


SQL is based on Relational Algebra a mathematical foundation for modeling, factoring and joining data. In this it’s probably unique. Other languages may be based on other mathematical models such as pure functional languages being based on lambda calculus etc.


Articulating your specification in precise language is the hard part. Learning syntax is easy.


I always like to think of Captain Kirk speaking SQL to the computer in Star Trek:

    COMPUTER, SELECT COURSE WHERE MINIMAL PROBABILITY OF KLINGON ENCOUNTER


> recently in the Ruby world with Cucumber.

Way to age yourself old man.




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