The Q Language

#1

Post by callinyouin » Tue, Dec 12, 2017, 6:03 PM UTC

Re: The Q Language

#2

Post by dasmoth » Tue, Dec 12, 2017, 6:36 PM UTC

Aside: has anyone heard any recent news about the K5/K6 rewrites of the underlying interpreter? There was a fair amount of chatter about these a couple of years ago, but all gone rather quiet...

(Some context: http://archive.vector.org.uk/art10501320)

Re: The Q Language

#3

Post by amypinka » Tue, Dec 12, 2017, 6:49 PM UTC

The next time you buy some stock, thank the Q language for making it happen.

Re: The Q Language

#4

Post by noblethrasher » Tue, Dec 12, 2017, 6:51 PM UTC

Q was the subject of an awesome presentation by Tim Thornton at YOW! Lambda Jam 2016.

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGIPmC6wi7E

Re: The Q Language

#5

Post by jonathanapp » Tue, Dec 12, 2017, 6:54 PM UTC

Notes from my KX/kdb experience:

1.) The in-memory DB .exe was around 500 KB. Imagine that.

2.) The Q language syntax, while consistent, is fairly arcane and throwback to decades past.

3.) The documentation and driver support is abysmal.

4.) It's supposedly extremely fast, but I can't help but wonder if this is a lot of successful PR and hype (like hedge fund bosses insisting on Oracle because it's the only db that 'scales')

Re: The Q Language

#6

Post by http-teapot » Tue, Dec 12, 2017, 6:57 PM UTC

Imagine being French and having to explain you code in Q.

(I am not certain if my comment follows HN's guidelines, apologies if I offended anyone)

Re: The Q Language

#7

Post by fiatjaf » Tue, Dec 12, 2017, 7:00 PM UTC

What is this?

Re: The Q Language

#8

Post by _acme » Tue, Dec 12, 2017, 7:01 PM UTC

jonathanapp wrote: post #5

Notes from my KX/kdb experience: 1.) The in-memory DB .exe was around 500 KB. Imagine that. 2.) The Q language syntax, while consistent, is fairly arcane and throwback to decades past. 3.) The documentation and driver support is abysmal. 4.) It's supposedly extremely fast, but I can't help but wonder if this is a lot of successful PR and hype (like hedge fund bosses insisting on Oracle because it's the only db that '…

Hedge funds would be the ones to use kdb over Oracle, wouldn't they?

Re: The Q Language

#9

Post by atrudeau » Tue, Dec 12, 2017, 7:02 PM UTC

http-teapot wrote: post #6

Imagine being French and having to explain you code in Q. (I am not certain if my comment follows HN's guidelines, apologies if I offended anyone)

Or the query execution plan: Plan Q

Re: The Q Language

#10

Post by geocar » Tue, Dec 12, 2017, 7:02 PM UTC

jonathanapp wrote: post #5

Notes from my KX/kdb experience: 1.) The in-memory DB .exe was around 500 KB. Imagine that. 2.) The Q language syntax, while consistent, is fairly arcane and throwback to decades past. 3.) The documentation and driver support is abysmal. 4.) It's supposedly extremely fast, but I can't help but wonder if this is a lot of successful PR and hype (like hedge fund bosses insisting on Oracle because it's the only db that '…

> 1) The in-memory DB .exe was around 500 KB. Imagine that

It still is, but the hot path is much smaller than that.

> 2) The Q language syntax, while consistent, is fairly arcane and throwback to decades past.

I can't comment about this. I don't mind the syntax. I prefer k syntax though.

> 3) The documentation and driver support is abysmal.

This is getting a lot better. The fusion API[1] goes a long way towards better "drivers", and the new documentation site[2] shows a lot of energy being put into organization. There's also Q for mortals[3] which is linearized for people who like that.

[1]: http://code.kx.com/q/interfaces/fusion/

[2]: http://code.kx.com/q/

[3]: http://code.kx.com/q4m3/preface/

> 4) It's supposedly extremely fast, but I can't help but wonder if this is a lot of successful PR and hype

There are a lot of good benchmarks of kdb[4] unlike Oracle :)

[4]: https://stacresearch.com/m3