[Python-ideas] Proposal: Query language extension to Python (PythonQL)

[Pavel Velikhov]

Hi Paul!
> On 25 March 2017 at 11:24, Pavel Velikhov <pavel.velikhov at gmail.com> wrote:
>> No, the current solution is temporary because we just don’t have the
>> manpower to
>> implement the full thing: a real system that will rewrite parts of PythonQL
>> queries and
>> ship them to underlying databases. We need a real query optimizer and smart
>> wrappers
>> for this purpose. But we’ll build one of these for demo purposes soon
>> (either a Spark
>> wrapper or a PostgreSQL wrapper).
> 
> One thought, if you're lacking in manpower now, then proposing
> inclusion into core Python means that the core dev team will be taking
> on an additional chunk of code that is already under-resourced. That
> rings alarm bells for me - how would you imagine the work needed to
> merge PythonQL into the core Python grammar would be resourced?

An inclusion in core would definitely help us to grow the team, but I see your point.
If we could get an idea that we’d be in the core if we do a) b) c) and have a big
enough team to be responsive, that could also help us grow.

> 
> I should say that in practice, I think that the solution is relatively
> niche, and overlaps quite significantly with existing Python features,
> so I don't really see a compelling case for inclusion. The parallel
> with C# and LINQ is interesting here - LINQ is a pretty cool
> technology, but I don't see it in widespread use in general-purpose C#
> projects (disclaimer: I don't get to see much C# code, so my
> experience is limited).

I’m not sure about the usual crowd of Python developers, but data scientists
like the idea a lot, especially the future plans. If we’ll really have millions of
data scientists soon, this could become pretty big. We’re also seeing a lot
of much more advanced use-cases popping up, where PythonQL could really
shine.

Yes, LINQ didn’t go big, but maybe it was a bit ahead of its time. 

> 
> Paul