From: ldo@nz.invalid   
      
   On Tue, 18 Nov 2025 09:19:35 -0500, Arne Vajhøj wrote:   
      
   > On 11/18/2025 2:25 AM, Lawrence D’Oliveiro wrote:   
   >>   
   > The language compiler does not see any embedded SQL - the embedded SQL   
   > pre-processor outputs plain Cobol (or C or whatever).   
   >   
   >>        So your code ends up being non-portable   
   >   
   > If the SQL used is database specific, then it only works with that   
   > database.   
      
   It’s quite common to have applications in a range of languages   
   all accessing the same database.   
      
   It’s not so common to have different compilers for what is supposed to   
   be the same language, require different syntax for embedding that SQL.   
      
   > Then you just need to wrap it.   
   >   
   > Cobol: EXEC SQL ... END-EXEC   
      
   But there is no standard in COBOL for how to do this wrapping.   
      
   >> And iterators, so you don’t have to retrieve the entire query   
   >> result set into memory at once, you can pull in just as much as you   
   >> can deal with at once.   
   >   
   > That works fine in old languages as well.   
      
   Those old languages don’t have iterators.   
      
   Remember that, in a language like Python, iterators are not   
   specifically a mechanism for database queries; they have other uses as   
   well.   
      
   > The two biggest languages for embedded SQL must be Cobol and C.   
   >   
   > Neither has exceptions.   
      
   And neither is suited to ad-hoc queries. Their mindset is that of   
   templated queries for doing a limited set of queries for bulk data   
   processing.   
      
   > Newer languages rarely use embedded SQL.   
      
   Precisely.   
      
   > Embedded SQL got defined for Java - I assume IBM and Oracle pushed   
   > hard for it - but nobody is using it.   
      
   Funny, that ...   
      
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