SQL queries as sets: was The tragedy of SQL

Rich Shepard said on Tue, 14 Sep 2021 05:49:07 -0700 (PDT)

>On Mon, 13 Sep 2021, Guyren Howe wrote:
>
>> They are making a decent decision. SQL is a *fucking terrible*
>> language, which I don’t blame them for not wanting to learn.
>
>>> SQL is not the problem. Problem are the devs. I love SQL. I hate
>>> orms. The problem with databases is people refuse to treat it as
>>> the entity it is and want to use their beautiful OO system. Problem
>>> is databases are not OO. We need to recognize that and treat
>>> databases as databases.
>
>Guyren/Hemil,
>
>As a non-SQL expert who's used postgres since 1997 I've come to
>believe the basic issue is that SQL is based on sets, neither
>procedural or object oriented. Few people think in sets so they try to
>fit SQL into what they know rather than understand the how sets work.

Rich, could you please elaborate on SQL queries being based on sets? I
never thought of it that way, and would like to hear your related
thoughts.

SteveT

Steve Litt
Spring 2021 featured book: Troubleshooting Techniques of the Successful
Technologist http://www.troubleshooters.com/techniques