On Fri, Feb 11, 2022 at 3:16 AM Ron <ronljohnsonjr@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On 2/10/22 10:33 PM, Raymond Brinzer wrote:
The answer is obvious to every grey beard: SQL was developed from SEQUEL, Structured ENGLISH Query Language at a company that loved English-style programming languages.
"SELECT column FROM mytable WHERE condition" is a perfect declarative English sentence that any middle school grammar teacher would be proud of.
"FROM mytable SELECT column"... not so much.
They're both perfectly good English; the order just changes the emphasis. That's the particularly annoying bit: we get all the bad things about English grammar, and none of the flexibility or beauty.
First thing that came to mind was the beginning of Marcus Aurelius' Meditations: "From my grandfather Verus I learned to relish the beauty of manners, and to restrain all anger." That's a translation of course, but into solid English. Putting what he learned first would not only be dull, it would obscure the fact that he's giving credit.
--
Ray Brinzer
