I rediscovered the joy of working with databases while working on an Elixir application with a Postgres/Timescale DB.
Elixir's Ecto library (doesn't really fit the definition of an ORM) lets me compose queries in a functional syntax that then get compiled to SQL before execution. This both enables me to be more productive and results in more readable code that can be reasoned about and be tested easily. Sometimes I still have to dive into "raw" SQL to write e.g. a procedure or a view definition (like Timescale's continuous aggregates), and I definitely miss the pipeline operator when those expressions get complex. SQL is a powerful tool, but it gets clunky and has strange footguns. A feature like what this post describes is definitely a step in the right direction for Postgres. Looking forward to try it out.
Glad you liked it! Please do give us feedback especially about how it is to use with your library…will be intrigued to see how they interact. Also , cool to hear about the library more generally, any particularly good syntax you think we should try to learn from?
