Maybe SQL is the SQL of NoSQL

Derrick Harris has written the last couple of days a great deal on SQL front ends for MapReduce platforms.  This is a particularly meaty post.

What does it all mean?  That SQL support is a must-have for a self-respecting MR implementation, and everyone is rushing to provide it.

I’ve posted here, here, and here about the function that SQL plays in the legacy data fabric — a fence separating data management from data analysis, for example — and wondering out loud what will take its place in a NoSQL or PostSQL world.

This motion suggests that SQL may have some life in it yet.  Despite its RDBMS-ism, it is a rich data-analysis language, and it is the canvas upon which millions of data-analysis paintings have been painted.  It’s asking a lot to just throw that away and go back to writing software in what are really still 3GLs to get at data.

In any case, it’s an admission that the data fabric will be more PostSQL (including and building upon SQL) rather than NoSQL in the future.  And suggests that we need an expressive model of PostSQL data before we’ll have an expressive interface language for it.

Your thoughts?