this post was submitted on 08 Sep 2023
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I wish writing SQL queries was more popular than ORMs (lemmy.ml)
submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/programming
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Some backend libraries let you write SQL queries as they are and deliver them to the database. They still handle making the connection, pooling, etc.

ORMs introduce a different API for making SQL queries, with the aim to make it easier. But I find them always subpar to SQL, and often times they miss advanced features (and sometimes not even those advanced).

It also means every time I use a ORM, I have to learn this ORM's API.

SQL is already a high level language abstracting inner workings of the database. So I find the promise of ease of use not to beat SQL. And I don't like abstracting an already high level abstraction.

Alright, I admit, there are a few advantages:

  • if I don't know SQL and don't plan on learning it, it is easier to learn a ORM
  • if I want better out of the box syntax highlighting (as SQL queries may be interpreted as pure strings)
  • if I want to use structures similar to my programming language (classes, functions, etc).

But ultimately I find these benefits far outweighed by the benefits of pure sql.

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Completely agree. Most ORMs focus on hiding SQL away (for good reasons, such as portability and type safety), but I wish there were more approaching it in the reverse. That is, have the user write schemas, queries and migrations in SQL, and generate models with typesafe APIs in return. I'm only aware of SQLDelight in this space, but it's such a great idea to have the source of truth be actual SQL, and a build time generator and validator working alongside you.

[–] firelizzard 2 points 1 year ago

I absolutely prefer using an ORM for querying but I'm definitely never letting the ORM create the schema for me. I will always do that myself and generate the ORM definitions from SQL, and I will never use an ORM that doesn't have that as an option.

[–] sbstp 2 points 1 year ago

sqlboiler does this in Go