Author Topic: SQL syntax is the dumbest thing ever and I hate Microsoft  (Read 788 times)

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recursivelyenumerable

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SQL syntax is the dumbest thing ever and I hate Microsoft
« on: October 12, 2007, 02:59:54 AM »
goddammit, it should've been obvious even in 1974 that a convoluted, completely non-orthogonal pseudo-natural-language syntax wasn't going to work for a semantic domain (complex set operations) that's fundamentally alien to "common sense" thinking.  A few days without using it and I forget everything.  And how the fuck am I even supposed to indent it?  (and that's not even getting into the totally backwards type system with no support for parametric polymorphism etc.)

I blame MS.  Most developers have the excuse of having to deal with market demand for backward compatibility, aversion to retraining etc etc., but with MS's market dominance they could just invent a better query language and ram it down people's throats if they only had the guts.
« Last Edit: October 12, 2007, 03:04:23 AM by recursivelyenumerable »
QED

Van Cruncheon

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Re: SQL syntax is the dumbest thing ever and I hate Microsoft
« Reply #1 on: October 12, 2007, 03:05:27 AM »
who doesn't love nested inner joins i ask
duc

MrAngryFace

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Re: SQL syntax is the dumbest thing ever and I hate Microsoft
« Reply #2 on: October 12, 2007, 03:06:12 AM »
GUTS
o_0

drozmight

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Re: SQL syntax is the dumbest thing ever and I hate Microsoft
« Reply #3 on: October 12, 2007, 03:16:52 AM »
The ominpotent Microsoft is unphased by you harsh words.
rub

cubicle47b

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Re: SQL syntax is the dumbest thing ever and I hate Microsoft
« Reply #4 on: October 12, 2007, 04:43:50 AM »
I love SQL but maybe that's just because it's what I'm best at when it comes to software development.  Actually, I'm applying for a database coordinator position so I might be out of development shortly.

recursivelyenumerable

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Re: SQL syntax is the dumbest thing ever and I hate Microsoft
« Reply #5 on: October 12, 2007, 04:46:44 AM »
Relational database systems and relational data models themselves are great.  It's just the query language that sucks.
« Last Edit: October 12, 2007, 04:49:11 AM by recursivelyenumerable »
QED

bluemax

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Re: SQL syntax is the dumbest thing ever and I hate Microsoft
« Reply #6 on: October 12, 2007, 05:14:01 AM »
Database class has to be the single worst class for CS I took. Operating Systems was a nightmare, but Databases sucked 10 times more.

Fuck ER Diagrams, and fuck the professor for not giving partial credit on exams.
NO

Van Cruncheon

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Re: SQL syntax is the dumbest thing ever and I hate Microsoft
« Reply #7 on: October 12, 2007, 12:54:01 PM »
databases was easy! fuck finite automata. actually, that one wasn't bad, either. honestly, i don't remember a truly frustrating cs class, not in the way e-fields was for electrical engineering.
duc

bluemax

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Re: SQL syntax is the dumbest thing ever and I hate Microsoft
« Reply #8 on: October 12, 2007, 01:04:57 PM »
databases was easy! fuck finite automata. actually, that one wasn't bad, either. honestly, i don't remember a truly frustrating cs class, not in the way e-fields was for electrical engineering.

I just had a shitty professor, he was dull and had stupid expectations.

I hated electrical engineering, those classes just got progressively worse and only of the professors I ever had wasn't a complete lunatic. I know the material was useful, and I took some good stuff away from those classes, but fuck if it wasn't annoying to be taking a big CS class and an EE class in the same semester. Especially any class with grad students in it.
NO

recursivelyenumerable

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Re: SQL syntax is the dumbest thing ever and I hate Microsoft
« Reply #9 on: October 12, 2007, 01:38:24 PM »
the only important subjects are compilers and language theory anyway. 
QED

cubicle47b

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Re: SQL syntax is the dumbest thing ever and I hate Microsoft
« Reply #10 on: October 12, 2007, 01:42:49 PM »
I had a pretty easy time in my first database course.  I did my final assignment (PL/SQL) between 5 AM and 10 AM the day it was due drunk off my ass.  I'd presented our software engineering project the night before which was basically the user interface with no code behind it.  Our professor liked to fuck with SE students and separated the project into 4 groups, an interface team and 3 teams to handle different parts of the code.  There was an integration team that was supposed to handle communication between the 4 groups and ultimately combine the pieces to form our project.  There was no real oversite so of course it was the biggest clusterfuck.  People turned in code that couldn't even be compiled, we sent the code back to be fixed, and then didn't hear from them for days.  Our project manager bailed 5 days before we had to present the project and I was told I was doing the final presentation the morning of along with the head of the interface team.  We spent an afternoon on the presentation, did it, and then went to the bar for some peace of mind.  I was going to drink a few and head back to the lab but met this hot girl from the COBOL class that met there and ended up playing quarters with her at Bennigans until it closed, doing a little drunk driving (well, I was the passenger) to Waffle House to be loud and obnoxious, then stumbling into the lab at 5 AM.

That didn't really have anything to do with databases.  It was just memorable because of how awful and then great that day was.
« Last Edit: October 12, 2007, 01:44:25 PM by cubicle47b »