Re: VMS x86-64 database server

On Mon, 7 Jul 2025 14:07:31 -0400, Arne Vajhøj wrote:

Embedded SQL is a thing or was a thing 30-40-50 years ago.
 
Basically you write source code with SQL statements prefixed by EXEC
SQL, put it through a pre-compiler to get valid code in whatever
language (Cobol, PL/I, C or whatever).

OK, so it was a horrible nonstandard hack invented for programming
languages like COBOL, which didn’t have the best ability to deal with
dynamic strings, to make it easier for them to compose SQL statements.

And the horribleness of it is reinforced by your statement that you need
server-side cursors in the DBMS to make this hack a little less difficult
to work with.

Not sure why it would be needed for PL/I, or even C.

I’ve pointed out before, the irony of COBOL being designed strictly for
“business” needs, yet within a couple of decades of its widespread
adoption, SQL databases became an important “business” need, but the best
way of interfacing to them (using dynamic string manipulation mechanisms)
had been omitted from COBOL because it wasn’t seen as a “business” need.