Discovered: Jan 13, 2023 07:5 2021:Some opinionated thoughts on SQL databases - Made of Bugs <– This person loves SQLite. So do I :-) –> QUOTE: I have a real love/hate relationship with SQL databases. They are incredibly powerful tools, and when used well can drastically simplify architectures and help solve entire classes of consistency and durability problems. At the same time, every time I interact with one, I feel like the experience is one of a thousand avoidable papercuts, and that the experience could be so much better without losing almost any of their strengths. SQL as an API is in many ways a relic from another era, and while it’s held up remarkably well, it also feels like it shows its age. The operational problems also terrify and enrage me. Databases are always going to be challenging and sources of complexity and danger, but it feels like SQL engines barely even try to offer predictability performance or to build reliable guard rails against accidentally taking the entire site down....My frustrations with SQL engines give me an optimistic lens on the “NoSQL” fad/movement/whatever you want to call it. Whether or not they are succeeding, in systems like MongoDB, I see a real attempt to modernize how a database works, and to bring modern sensibilities — such as easy scale-out, rapid iteration of the application, 24/7 availability, “cattle, not pet” cloud deployment — to our databases. I see attempts to simplify systems to make them more understandable and predictable, and in order to offer better guarantees. I see efforts to design interfaces better-suited to our modern style of application development, where the app code is king, and is rapidly evolving and iterating, and where planned downtime for maintenance is no longer a norm.

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