[physcab]

I’ve been a career analyst for about 12 years so I write SQL every day. I know it very well. I’ve developed a very strong love / hate relationship with it over the years.

On one hand, you write what you want to find in fairly common language and you almost always get back what you want if you do it correctly. In many ways, it’s like a precursor to Alexa but in written form. It’s super easy to pick up for non technical people.

On the other hand, it’s extremely difficult to code review, and on a very complicated piece of business logic, errors could mean the difference between hiring 10 more people or laying off 100. So almost always it’s just easier to re-write.

Imagine if engineers couldn’t understand each other’s work, and had to rewrite code every time someone leaves the team. It’s insane to me that this is standard practice.

[wvenable]

> It’s super easy to pick up for non technical people.

I haven't found that particularly true. I've trained people in SQL and yes, they can do the basics pretty well, but it requires a particular skill to actually write effect complex SQL statements. Non-technical people, being non-technical, generally cannot do that.

> it’s extremely difficult to code review

I don't see why it's any more difficult than any other logic? It's always important to test.

[physcab]

I think the operative word there is complex.

Yes non technical people can’t write complex sql, but they can self service basic questions easier than learning Python or R for example.

And it’s difficult to code review SQL because complex business logic means complex data manipulations and those are hard to visualize and comprehend. You don’t have to think in a 3D space so much when you write python.