I have just
read a great blog post from George Coleman, the much respected Teradata engineer and
Set SQL guru, reflecting on the history of database programming culminating in the
Set SQL we all know and love today.
What I found
particularly interesting were the origins of programming with flowcharts, and
how this visual representation of process and logic is easy to understand and
remains an excellent way of documenting procedural systems. Obviously database programming has evolved into
a textual language, and enables us to fully exploit advances in RDBMS technologies
and massively parallel processing - rather fortunate given the significant increases
in data volumes and our unabated appetite for insight!
But wait, haven’t
we lost something along the way?
Database
programming, in the form of SQL, has become so advanced and so functionally rich
that is its use, beyond the basics at least, is now restricted to the realm of
us technical folk. So now those poor
business users and subject matter experts who could once work with a flowchart
to define and implement their requirements have to rely on the interpretation
of a developer to deliver their data needs, and then have no way of checking whether
the results reflect what they actually wanted.
So wouldn’t it
be great if we could somehow combine the power of Set SQL and the usability and
intuitiveness of a visual diagram. Not
only for basic data retrieval, but as a way of developing comprehensive
database procedures that can combine, transform, aggregate and analyse large
data sets. Just think of the increased
collaboration, accuracy and productivity gains that could be achieved with an
environment that can graphically generate complex Set SQL and deploy it straight
to the database.
Well, now this
is all possible - with Microgen DBClarity Developer. In Microgen's quest to simplify the complex
when it comes to developing enterprise applications, it saw the challenges normally
associated with the definition and implementation of business logic extend into
the data space. Exacerbated by the
growth in data volumes, with typical work around solutions like data
manipulation within Excel becoming unworkable, Microgen decided to tackle this
head on. Leveraging years of experience
crafting and refining a graphical environment for developing business processes and rules,
Microgen have created a completely graphical approach for developing Set SQL.
So as George
encourages you to migrate your old database code into Set SQL, why not simplify
the process and reduce your learning curve by taking the graphical approach. Give it a try at www.microgen.com/dbclarity
