Learn SQL Once, Use It for 30 Years • Hacker News Board

Re: Learn SQL Once, Use It for 30 Years

#11

Post by llbbdd » Thu, Jun 04, 2026, 7:04 AM UTC

curtisblaine wrote: post #7

> JavaScript is an imperative language that browser wars, framework trends, and open-source maintainer preferences reshaped every few years. It rewards you for keeping up. > Take a React component from 2015 Javascript is actually fully backwards-compatible, to not break the Web. Any javascript from 10 years ago works in the browser. This is good but also a bit of a burden, since the language can only expand but not s…

An article laser-targeted at HN's front page, making tantalizingly negative and easily disprovable claims about Javascript? Perish the thought.

Re: Learn SQL Once, Use It for 30 Years

#12

Post by meszmate » Thu, Jun 04, 2026, 7:05 AM UTC

I’ve been using Postgres for over 6 years (since I started), and I honestly think it’s one of the best investments you can make as a developer

Re: Learn SQL Once, Use It for 30 Years

#13

Post by ivolimmen » Thu, Jun 04, 2026, 7:07 AM UTC

Same can be said for learning an OO programming language or a procedural programming language. I learned C++ at school and started using Java on my first job. I forgot how to work correctly with pointers but I have tried multiple languages (using the same paradigms) and managed to build working software

Re: Learn SQL Once, Use It for 30 Years

#14

Post by kibibu » Thu, Jun 04, 2026, 7:13 AM UTC

curtisblaine wrote: post #7

> JavaScript is an imperative language that browser wars, framework trends, and open-source maintainer preferences reshaped every few years. It rewards you for keeping up. > Take a React component from 2015 Javascript is actually fully backwards-compatible, to not break the Web. Any javascript from 10 years ago works in the browser. This is good but also a bit of a burden, since the language can only expand but not s…

> Not a tutorial. Not an ORM. Actual SQL: joins, subqueries, window functions, query plans.

My brain absolutely checks out when I read this stuff now.

Not to mention that query plans are absolutely not "actual SQL".

Re: Learn SQL Once, Use It for 30 Years

#15

Post by ciconia » Thu, Jun 04, 2026, 7:15 AM UTC

I've been slowly transitioning from using an ORM to just plain SQL. It's so much simpler. Less magic, more explicitness, and more control. Also, much better performance. I think the thing is to construct your model around the different queries you need to perform. In many cases, especially a CRUD-type situation, you'll end up with 10-20 different SQL queries, and that's it.

Re: Learn SQL Once, Use It for 30 Years

#16

Post by themafia » Thu, Jun 04, 2026, 7:17 AM UTC

NetOpWibby wrote: post #8

I refuse to learn SQL. I'm not a computer, I'll let them deal with that.

SELECT excuse FROM ignorance ORDER BY snobbery DESC LIMIT 1;

Re: Learn SQL Once, Use It for 30 Years

#17

Post by mihaic » Thu, Jun 04, 2026, 7:19 AM UTC

I've learned SQL around 20 years ago, and in all this time I've felt it was just a poorly designed language. It was always infuriating to write because of its verbose nature. Keywords were split into two words. I'm still shocked it's not "GROUPBY". There is no composition and modularization of logic, queries become massive expressions.

I know I'm in the minority in places like this, but I've spent all my life using ORMs, and never once regretted it. And I'm the kind of person that actually likes low-level C from time to time. SQL just feels like a poor abstraction layer: either go higher or lower.

Re: Learn SQL Once, Use It for 30 Years

#18

Post by drayfield » Thu, Jun 04, 2026, 7:27 AM UTC

For me SQL has long been the gateway to the world of development. I work in the UK non-profit sector and traditionally this kind of technical knowledge is rare, so for any team I've worked with I've built learning pathways that start with SQL before pushing out into Python, Linux, and other things. We're not exactly at the bleeding edge of current technologies, but SQL has consistently proved to be a great jumping-off point for novices who have even a passing interest in computing.

Re: Learn SQL Once, Use It for 30 Years

#19

Post by pjmlp » Thu, Jun 04, 2026, 7:28 AM UTC

Additionally learn stored procedures.

Helps simplify complex SQL queries and no need to waste network traffic on data that client side is never going to use, and waste CPU cycles processing it.

Yes, what about database portability?

I am on my 50s and it only mattered on a single project, which was anyway a middleware for application servers.

Re: Learn SQL Once, Use It for 30 Years

#20

Post by bob1029 » Thu, Jun 04, 2026, 7:33 AM UTC

frollogaston wrote: post #9

Everyone knows SQL already. The harder parts that pay off are schema design, knowing how to interact with your DB in code, and knowing all the ins and outs of whatever DBMS you're using.

I would emphasize the importance of batching and set operations. This is where I think many developers lose track of the rabbit, because you don't have much control over either of these things via ORMs. You have to get your hands dirty with raw command text.

The value of this stuff is difficult to overstate. Batching allows for you to rapidly load the RDBMS. The first few times you test, it will probably go so fast you won't believe it loaded anything at all. Set operations allow for you to bring this newly loaded data to visibility in production tables nearly instantly. Your OLAP & OLTP workloads should be dominating the compute. ETL ops (loading/set ops) should be a ghost in terms of cpu time and memory. None of this is vendor specific knowledge. Every major engine has a reasonable way to bulk load and perform quick merging of records.