Surprised to see no one has mentioned query builders (like http://knexjs.org - n...

bob1029 · on Sept 20, 2019

I see query builders as a learning tool for fresh developers, and as a job aid for business analysts. For some this can be the final destination, but for any developer I would push hard to get them writing SQL by hand ASAP.

A few weeks of suffering through DIY SQL is really the only way to fundamentally understand how the database is working for (or against) you. Once you learn it, it really does become like a second language. You can fade in and out of proficiency based on recency of exposure, but it is mostly like riding a bicycle. One other advantage is you can take it across any SQL platform without a second thought. Many ORMs have provider-specific compatibility woes to contend with.

syntheticcdo · on Sept 20, 2019

I disagree. Knex isn't an abstraction over SQL itself, as much as an abstraction over the tedious process of writing literal strings, which let's the developer treat SQL queries as code.

My process is generally - write SQL to find the best query, then convert the SQL to Knex for integration.

As a simple example, say you are making a simple query to the db, but in some edge cases you need another column to be selected. Knex lets you do this:

    let query = KNEX("table").select("col_1")
    
    if(weirdCondition) {
      query = query.select("col_2")
    }

    const rows = await query

Which naturally compiles into either

    SELECT col_1 FROM table

or

    SELECT col_1, col_2 FROM table

celticmusic · on Sept 20, 2019

query builders are useful for building queries dynamically.