This is pretty cool. I've had thoughts (or dreams, more accurately :) of a language like this every time I get a runtime 'type error in q. I gotta say, I prefer q's syntax, though :)
q with static typing and a sensible pricing model would be amazing.
I do think that q's main strength is not its speed, but the fact that qSQL statements are a first class citizen in the language - no network hops, no awkward marshalling and unmarshalling of data, no awkward mismatch around how to use nulls, nans, tz-aware timestamps etc.
I started Empirical with the goal of "q like Haskell". The end result went in a radically different direction, but the guiding light has always been to have a statically typed language where tables and queries are a first-class operation.
The source code is publicly available under AGPL with the Commons Clause:
I do think that q's main strength is not its speed, but the fact that qSQL statements are a first class citizen in the language - no network hops, no awkward marshalling and unmarshalling of data, no awkward mismatch around how to use nulls, nans, tz-aware timestamps etc.