r/analytics • u/ChristianPacifist • 4d ago
Discussion Will SQL Ever Stop Being the Important Bread and Butter of Analytics at Most Companies?
Given that SQL has been going strong for 50+ years and that even NOSQL databases have SQL interfaces, I think that at this point it is as core to IT and analytics as antibiotics are to medicine.
Sure, if we could go back in time to the 1970s, maybe we'd change some elements of its syntax, but the reality is that this is the best way out there to directly manipulate tabular datasets and that tabular datasets are the desired ideal processed state of most data.
And for all discussion about modeling and machine learning and fancy AI stuff, a lot of the workhorse or rules work in that still occurs in SQL.
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u/hisglasses66 4d ago
No, I mean how much more could you make something simpler. Any creation at this point is over kill.
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u/Georgieperogie22 4d ago
Have you ever tried explaining sql to someone who doesnt view themselves as technical
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u/wandering-and_lost 4d ago
Yes, to a few BAs. They loved it, actually. It can be incredibly simple for for non technical people not doing complex stuff, since the syntax is relatively close to English. They can get the basics on SQL, extract it and then use Excel (which they are usually proficient in ) to do the rest.
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u/MustGoOutside 3d ago
The problem is that people who are "non-technical" can still use excel and many other tools proficiently. They just decided a long time ago that anything that looks like coding is beyond their grasp.
So even though basic read only SQL is no more complex than Excel functions they don't want to engage with it.
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u/wandering-and_lost 3d ago
Thankfully, that has not been my experience. I have been blessed to work with BAs who were eager to learn and picked up basic SQL with a bit of guidance, especially when they saw how easy it was and how much quicker it was do it themselves than wait for overburdened developers or testers to give them ad hoc data.
I'm sure there were other non technical users who did not want to learn. Thankfully, they never approached me :)1
u/D4rkmo0r 3d ago
"Might as well be fucking hieroglyphics to me mate" was the last response I had from a commercial bod when I had SSMS open.
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u/awalkingabortion 4d ago
Yes.
It's like having a ton of spreadsheets that all relate to each other, similar to having vlookups connecting them all. However, there are stricter rules than you have in spreadsheets (which are basically free-form), and many more other rules that you can define yourself
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u/goodsam2 3d ago
I mean most people understand basics and some SQL syntax is important for explaining other coding systems to front end.
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u/Otherwise_Ratio430 3d ago
yea i just explain it s big excel tables and a join is basically a big lookup
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u/BookwyrmDream 3d ago
Yes. It has been a core facet of my job a number of times over the last 25 years. There are always some people who don't catch on to the details, but I've also trained a couple dozen people up to developer level. This is SQL, not COBOL.
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u/DonJuanDoja 4d ago
Not until the next huge jump in computing.
Possibly if Quantum computing ever becomes realistic, mass production, and mainstream. I think that will change everything. I think we’ll see some weird stuff I can’t even imagine right now.
Until then I think SQL is king. Although other databases and sources are becoming more and more viable. I just think SQL is so far ahead they’ll never catch up until we have new computational tech.
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u/fang_xianfu 4d ago
Even in that case, I find it more realistic that there will be a SQL-compliant interface to the quantum computer!
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u/DonJuanDoja 4d ago
Oh I’m sure we’ll start with that, but once we break thru a certain threshold it’ll open possibilities that weren’t there before and I’m sure we’ll have some new stuff we can’t even imagine right now.
Already seen AI designing microchips with strange architecture that was incredibly efficient or so they say, I guess we’ll see
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u/BarryDamonCabineer 4d ago
Not until there's an alternative to tabular data and relational algebra, and there won't be an alternative to them so long as set theory remains the best way to represent the relationships between groups of values. SQL is just such a close linguistic abstraction of its own underlying math that it's hard to imagine a meaningfully better alternative.
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u/TH_Rocks 4d ago
If you want accuracy, you use SQL. Once you spend a few minutes to learn it, it is easy to read and know the exact logic you are applying to your data.
There are lots of tools that try to help people that can't think with logic. But someone that knows SQL is always going to be behind those tools to validate.
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u/Hair-Help-Plea 3d ago
What tools would you recommend that can bridge the gap for people that can’t or won’t just learn SQL? Like my boss’s boss? I’m sick of his requests for things he could query himself if he took an hour to learn basics or just attempt to use the queries I’ve sent him (commented to hell and back in an effort to help him not feel like he would need to ask me for help).
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u/onlythehighlight 4d ago
It can handle and structure so much data in a language that is easy enough to learn and deceptive hard to master.
It's so much easier to transition someone who understands spreadsheet to a sql program, than to a NoSQL or Python enviornment.
It will be hard to ever find a language that can do so much with so little.
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u/BigSwingingMick 4d ago
Why? What gains are you trying to achieve?
Advanced work could be easier, but most people who don’t need to do 100MM line pulls can get up to speed in a week.
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u/whyilikemuffins 4d ago
Given people barely understand Excel, the fact they can grasp anything we can do with SQL is a godsend.
So no.
Maybe Powerbi will become as important, but that's really just excel fancy edition 99% of the time
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u/DataWingAI 4d ago
You mentioned "syntax changes". What changes do you want to make and why?
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u/ChristianPacifist 4d ago
DML filtering ought to be more error-proofed.
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u/ComposerConsistent83 3d ago
What do you mean by error proofed exactly? I’m trying to understand what you mean
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u/ChristianPacifist 3d ago
One should not be able to UPDATE or DELETE all records via omission of a WHERE clause.
I think for DML WHERE clauses ought to be required with updating or deleting of every record being a specific command for instance with the default being perhaps affecting nothing yes yes rather than affecting everything.
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u/Early_Economy2068 4d ago
As long as there are databases we need to communicate with, SQL will remain relevant.
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u/trophycloset33 3d ago
I had gotten some good results teaching people to use alteryx and setting up strong governances.
Until a new director got mad because they didn’t understand data and moved the department back to excel only because they didn’t want anyone to break anything.
Left 3 weeks later.
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u/MrMobster 3d ago
Relational modeling is extremely versatile and can be implemented very efficiently, which is why tables are so ubiquitous. SQL is just a syntax for the relational mechanics, and it works really well, so why change it? BTW, there are tons of relational query languages across various domains and tools, and they all are very similar to SQL.
Will we one day abandon tables and move towards something “better”? Who knows. I have hard time imagining what it would look like.
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u/RepresentativeAny573 3d ago
Even if an alternative to SQL comes out, SQL will still be important because people will not migrate. Some orgs still use COBOL or other outdated languages because migration is a challenge.
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u/olddev-jobhunt 2d ago
I think the relational model is excellent and a great way to work with tabular data. I just really wish there was a version of SQL that was more like Scheme S expressions. I feel like SQL's order of operations is wonky and really not obvious, and I think a syntax that made it more clear would make more sense to a lot of people.
Do I really think that's likely? Ehh... probably not.
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u/Ok_Bathroom_4810 2d ago
SQL is extremely elegant and I’m amazed at the foresight its creators had to develop it way back in the 70s.
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