Not a day pass without something new coming out from software companies like Microsoft. And it has been a challenge to keep up for application developers like me. I happen to start my all-Microsoft stack effort during the heydays of Visual Basic 3 and Access. Prior to that, I was a Borland kind of kid mesmerized at how neat my code was when printed on reams of continuous paper.
I was really fast then in absorbing new software technologies for application development and related products but I am no longer a kid I used to be. I am now a slow slumbering oldie when it comes to absorbing software development technologies. I actually envy those guys now who are doing and using technologies that just came out of the baking oven. I feel they are so smart to figure out new things so fast. Isn’t that great?
And every time I get to mingle with these developers, they often wonder why I am still stuck with Transact-SQL (T-SQL). Every time .. and it never fails. It now makes me wonder why I am stuck with T-SQL when there are a lot of new alternatives. This makes me beg to question if I am still relevant with the times. Well, let’s see.
Am I in? Or Out?
My first serious brush with T-SQL was when I was contracted to develop a school library system. I thought of using VB3 + Access but being a fast kid then, I opted to choose what was the latest and ended up using VB4 and SQL Server 6.5. I was mostly doing VB code and using DAO/ADO to connect to my databases and still doing client-side cursors when going through my tables here and there. I had trouble adapting to sql’s set-based processing and mindset with my Clipper-heavy and Access background. In no time, I was able to absorb T-SQL and began moving some of my data manipulation code to stored procedures.
When VB5 came out I decided to upgrade the school library application with an improved database structure with all data manipulation in stored procedures. This time, no more non-TSQL code for my data. I was able to re-use some TSQL code taken from the app’s previous version.
VB6 came out and Microsoft touted a better data access component in RDO. Around that time, I was able to get more libraries to use my system so I virtually kept up with anything new from Microsoft. I upgraded the front-end portion of my library system while I was able to re-use all my stored procedures.
Shortly after, the Web’s irresistible force dawned on me and I took up ASP and VB Script and migrated a portion of my library application to face the web. During this time, I also upgraded to SQL Server 7.0. I had some inline SQL codes which were prone to SQL Injection but I was able to retain all my stored procedures.
When .NET came out, I had my library system upgraded to an entirely new schema, platform and language (ASP.NET, Windows Forms, ADO.NET, SQL Server 2000/2005). This time, I hired somebody else to code it for me.
Never Obsolete
With all the changes I made to the library system, the only technology that remained constant was T-SQL. In most cases, I was able to re-use code. In all cases, I was able to take advantage of the benefits of re-using my T-SQL experience .. all these while I managed to bulk up my knowledge on T-SQL.
VB4 is gone; my T-SQL is still here. VB5 is gone; my T-SQL is still here. VB6 is gone; my T-SQL is still here. ASP is gone; still my T-SQL is here. DAO, ADO, and RDO are gone but my T-SQL remained. I moved from VB to C#, yet I am still using T-SQL.
Today we have ADO.NET, we have LINQ. Soon they will be gone (I have heard LINQ-To-SQL is now deprecated). And tomorrow I can probably move from ASP.NET to Silverlight or some else new, or from ASP.NET to PHP, but I have the feeling I still be using T-SQL. Microsoft is even realizing in going back to something as basic as tables and queues with Azure but it can’t ignore T-SQL, thus we have SQL Azure.
Betting My Future
I am inclined to think that my investments on T-SQL have already been paid back immensely and I am still reaping its benefits. With the advent of the relatively new cloud computing, and having various players offering various cloud computing technologies and services, I can’t help the urge in identifying which part of the cloud computing technology stack will survive against the onslaught of constant change and would manage to stay relatively stable. I am afraid some of our current investments to other technologies wont be as useful in the cloud but I am betting my future once again with SQL.
What about you?
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Toto Gamboa is a consultant specializing on databases, Microsoft SQL Server and software development operating in the Philippines. He is currently a member and one of the leaders of Philippine SQL Server Users Group, a Professional Association for SQL Server (PASS) chapter and is one of Microsoft’s MVP for SQL Server in the Philippines. You may reach him by sending an email to totogamboa@gmail.com
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