This is about the one thing where SQL is a badly designed language, and you should use a frontend that forces you to write your queries in the order (table, filter, columns) for consistency.
UPDATE table_name WHERE y = $3 SET w = $1, x = $2, z = $4 RETURNING *
FROM table_name SELECT w, x, y, z
I get mildly mad all the time when writing SQL because I feel like it’s upside down
Instead of
select u.id. u.email, p.name
from user u
join persona p on p.user_id = u.id
where u.active = true
where the columns are referenced before they’re defined (like what is u.id? Keep reading to find out!)
it should instead be
from user u
join persona p on u.id = p.user_id
where u.active = true
select u.id, u.email, p.name
Now nothing is defined before it’s used, and you’re less likely to miss your where clause. I usually write the joins first anyway because I know what tables I care about, but don’t know which specific things I’ll want.
I can’t think of any other languages that use things before they’re defined except extremely dysfunctional JavaScript.
You are not logged in. However you can subscribe from another Fediverse account, for example Lemmy or Mastodon. To do this, paste the following into the search field of your instance: !programming@programming.dev
Welcome to the main community in programming.dev! Feel free to post anything relating to programming here!
Cross posting is strongly encouraged in the instance. If you feel your post or another person’s post makes sense in another community cross post into it.
Hope you enjoy the instance!
Rules
Rules
Follow the programming.dev instance rules
Keep content related to programming in some way
If you’re posting long videos try to add in some form of tldr for those who don’t want to watch videos
This is about the one thing where SQL is a badly designed language, and you should use a frontend that forces you to write your queries in the order (table, filter, columns) for consistency.
I get mildly mad all the time when writing SQL because I feel like it’s upside down
Instead of
where the columns are referenced before they’re defined (like what is u.id? Keep reading to find out!)
it should instead be
Now nothing is defined before it’s used, and you’re less likely to miss your where clause. I usually write the joins first anyway because I know what tables I care about, but don’t know which specific things I’ll want.
I can’t think of any other languages that use things before they’re defined except extremely dysfunctional JavaScript.
You might enjoy https://github.com/max-sixty/prql
From the cabinet, get a cup.