I have to say that I don't agree with many of your points.
Indexing is a subtle operation that needs understanding of what and why one does it. The space and write performance costs are important enough to invalidate your assumption on indexing everything.
I would rather invite database designers to separate the tables that require reading from those that are heavily written in and construct some mechanism for synchronizing them. Indexing for reading is very different from indexing for writing and table structure is very different for reading and writing as well.
Also... PostgreSQL being the best. What trolling :) I actually loved PostgreSQL 20 years ago, but then I've worked on SQL Server almost exclusively. It's amazing how much stuff they have added every year to it. I expect most other engines have had a similar spectacular growth. Again, here I would say that the engine should fit your requirements.
About SQL being case insensitive in keywords or the styling... I find that irrelevant. There are tools that can change the SQL code style automatically. Basically you can write whatever you want and then shape it to fit... your company's code style. I know people who come into a company where everyone writes in one way and they stubbornly write in another way because "this is the way". They are just annoying, not right.
I do agree with ORMs being a shortcut to simple things and when you want something done right or specific you need to "get your hands dirty".
I personally would go even so far as to say ORMs are harmful. Because even if one follows coding guidelines and abstract the DAL correctly, maintaining code that handles data in multiple ways is difficult and messy. If ORMs are good only for simple things, that means that SQL queries for the same effect would be simple. Therefore there is no need to use one.
Thanks for sharing your viewpoint and inviting a discussion on them.
Thank you for your detailled feedback! I'm glad you don't agree with most of my points since it helps me reviewing my thoughts, so thank you!
As a disclaimer, this article has (at least) two big flaws:
It is mostly opinions (and I'm too assertive in my points)
It is advices for beginners (so when I write "do this" it's not that simple in a real world where each situation is different).
Here is a try to answer all your points!
Indexing is a subtle operation
You are right! This is the most posted comment I received both here and on reddit, so I guess I'm wrong. I wrote this because beginners (in my experience) often forget to index things, so it was something like "hey, don't forget to index obvious things you query all the day".
PostgreSQL being the best. What trolling :)
Yes, sorry about that. I should have write: "as a beginner who don't know what SQL DBMS to choose, PostgreSQL could be a good candidate".
About SQL being case insensitive
I have no strong opinion on this. When I use Datagrip, and when columns and table names have upper case, it does not auto-correct, so it's annoying. Your point is valid: a new dev that would come and says "let's change all our habits because mine are better" would be ... uh... annoying I guess!
I do agree with ORMs being a shortcut to simple things
That's an interesting point!
Again, thank you for your feedback, I hope readers will see it too. BTW, I recommand the feedback by @redhap : dev.to/redhap/comment/203hk which is like yours: a deeper questioning about SQL querying than mine!
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I have to say that I don't agree with many of your points.
Indexing is a subtle operation that needs understanding of what and why one does it. The space and write performance costs are important enough to invalidate your assumption on indexing everything.
I would rather invite database designers to separate the tables that require reading from those that are heavily written in and construct some mechanism for synchronizing them. Indexing for reading is very different from indexing for writing and table structure is very different for reading and writing as well.
Also... PostgreSQL being the best. What trolling :) I actually loved PostgreSQL 20 years ago, but then I've worked on SQL Server almost exclusively. It's amazing how much stuff they have added every year to it. I expect most other engines have had a similar spectacular growth. Again, here I would say that the engine should fit your requirements.
About SQL being case insensitive in keywords or the styling... I find that irrelevant. There are tools that can change the SQL code style automatically. Basically you can write whatever you want and then shape it to fit... your company's code style. I know people who come into a company where everyone writes in one way and they stubbornly write in another way because "this is the way". They are just annoying, not right.
I do agree with ORMs being a shortcut to simple things and when you want something done right or specific you need to "get your hands dirty".
I personally would go even so far as to say ORMs are harmful. Because even if one follows coding guidelines and abstract the DAL correctly, maintaining code that handles data in multiple ways is difficult and messy. If ORMs are good only for simple things, that means that SQL queries for the same effect would be simple. Therefore there is no need to use one.
Thanks for sharing your viewpoint and inviting a discussion on them.
Thank you for your detailled feedback! I'm glad you don't agree with most of my points since it helps me reviewing my thoughts, so thank you!
As a disclaimer, this article has (at least) two big flaws:
Here is a try to answer all your points!
You are right! This is the most posted comment I received both here and on reddit, so I guess I'm wrong. I wrote this because beginners (in my experience) often forget to index things, so it was something like "hey, don't forget to index obvious things you query all the day".
Yes, sorry about that. I should have write: "as a beginner who don't know what SQL DBMS to choose, PostgreSQL could be a good candidate".
I have no strong opinion on this. When I use Datagrip, and when columns and table names have upper case, it does not auto-correct, so it's annoying. Your point is valid: a new dev that would come and says "let's change all our habits because mine are better" would be ... uh... annoying I guess!
That's an interesting point!
Again, thank you for your feedback, I hope readers will see it too. BTW, I recommand the feedback by @redhap : dev.to/redhap/comment/203hk which is like yours: a deeper questioning about SQL querying than mine!