On Wed, Jul 5, 2017 at 12:22 AM, Jason Dusek <jason.dusek@xxxxxxxxx> wrote: > Hi All, > > This more of a general interest than specifically Postgres question. Are > there any “semi-imperative” query languages that have been tried in the > past? I’m imagining a language where something like this: huh. Somewhat snarky answer, all of them? :-). Most languages are imperative including just about all the ones that are popular in "the enterprise" (minus SQL). You can for example code that looks remarkably like that in pl/pgsql. Since postgres is a SQL server, it would have to get compiled down to boring SQL statements but it's generally understood (at least by me) that this is an inefficient way to write code. Downthread, Tom mentions CODASYL, etc, but could have mentioned the big daddy, ISAM, and all it's various flavors. Virtually all business code was written using it (and much of it still is) leading into the SQL era. Code generally looked exactly like your example, except it was much more stupid looking being written in (generally) COBOL, and added in error handling, which is where the technique tends to break down. SQL came about because some particularly smart people realized that programmers were writing the same boiler plate code over and over again and that perhaps access to data could be generalized and focused down to the real problem being solved. This fortunately came about before "enterprise developers" and "enterprise tool vendors" were as organized as they are today and so was able to germinate into something incredibly useful... This revolution in programming was IMNSHO the single greatest innovation in computer science; so much so that legions of the unenlightened have been tirelessly working (hibernate) to eliminate or displace its benefits, without much success: http://www.codingdojo.com/blog/9-most-in-demand-programming-languages-of-2016/ :-D merlin -- Sent via pgsql-general mailing list (pgsql-general@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx) To make changes to your subscription: http://www.postgresql.org/mailpref/pgsql-general
