LLM Experiments -- Sequel: The Database Toolkit for Ruby

Sequel: The Database Toolkit for Ruby

Not everyone pronounces SQL as 'sequel,' since it is a known acronym, so don't go thinking that's widely accepted because a vocal bunch on YouTube says 'sequel.'
Still, it was dumb to name another project that.
-- 0xEF Reply

So, "sequel" as a name, as opposed to "ess-cue-ell" is pretty universally used in English. Most people who use it call the Microsoft RDBMS "sequel server" not "ess-cue-ell server" and I hear "sequel" slightly more than spelling out the acronym these days. The UK does tend to prefer to make a word out of an acronym though, so we tend to say things like OS (Operating System) as "oss" not "oh-ess". This led me in a conversation once to only realise at the end that the guy was talking about "RTOS" (which I had only ever read, and used the more American "AR-TEE-OH-ESS") when he was saying "are-toss".
Edited to clarify we are talking about English usage because apparently, someone speaking French down voted me because French is not English..
-- memsom Reply

Not sure if you saw my other comment, but I still disagree that it is "universal" based on my own experience of frequently hearing S Q L as opposed to 'sequel' from English-speaking peers. It's honestly a super interesting thing to explore, if you ask me. I am sure there are multiple cultural and linguistic influences at play, though I am not versed enough if either of those fields to say exactly how. Has there been any data/research on this, that you know of?
-- 0xEF Reply

I've also heard a bunch of people saying "ess-cue-ell" rather than "sequel" (in English). Probably as many as I've heard saying "sequel".
I don't think neither is "universal". Personally I switch between them depending on my current mood.
-- diggan Reply

> So, "sequel" as a name, as opposed to "ess-cue-ell" is pretty universally used
Nope - 100% of French speakers pronounce it "ess-cue-ell".
-- liotier Reply

I wasn't talking about French speakers. We are speaking about English usage. I have heard French people say "Sourcecodes" or "Sources" too, but that is also something I would never personally use in English. Sourcecode is uncountable, so it is already implicitly multiple things, so plural is redundant.
-- memsom Reply

As another data point - I’ve never looked at YouTube for database content, but every single DBA I’ve encountered in the corporate world pronounces SQL as ‘sequel’.
-- ssss11 Reply

Anecdotal, but fair, since I can say the opposite. I've largely heard it said as S Q L, ro the point when someone verbally calls it "sequel" it takes me an extra moment to remember what they are referring to. I rationalize it thus; we don't make words from our other acronyms that aren't already pronouncable words to some degree. Exploring that, we don't say "fibby" when we mean FBI or "see ya" when we mean CIA (maybe we should, though?). DARPA, on the other hand, is pronouncable on its own, so we'll say the word instead of D A R P A. Another one is HIPAA, which is interesting, since its pronouncable, but people often get the acronym wrong as HIPPA when writing/typing it (FAFSA being another good example) although that is more US-centric.
Anyway, our treatment of saying the word instead of saying the letters of the acronym is interesting to think about, I guess. I reckon there's a lot of cultural and linguistic influence there. Perhaps someone smarter than me can unpack it.
-- 0xEF Reply

It is interesting. I always thought it began as ’sequel’ and was then abbreviated, but I wasn’t around when it started back in the 1960’s or whenever that was… might go google it haha
-- ssss11 Reply

This always annoyed me ~10 years ago when I picked up a few sequel projects. It was such a pain in the ass to google when I was stuck on things
-- ElCapitanMarkla Reply

Back in 2014 I had a lot of luck finding what I needed using "sequel ruby" as the search term instead of just using sequel which was indeed abysmal. Adding context in search just gives better results overall.
-- nurettin Reply

This is what I reach for whenever I'm not using ActiveRecord in Ruby. Excellent library—difficult to talk about over audio.
-- neallindsay Reply

To me, the best part about sequel is that it works with jruby. I use it as a secret weapon when I need a db automation that runs practically anywhere thanks to JVM (and thanks to Jeremy).
-- nurettin Reply

> db automation that runs practically anywhere thanks to JVM
Doesn't both JRuby and CRuby require you to download platform specific executable? Or does JRuby offer a portable standalone executable? If that is the case then I might also switch.
-- Alifatisk Reply

It's been years since I investigated it but isn't ActiveRecord running in JRuby these days?
-- pantulis Reply

Are you saying it is compitable with JRuby (using a adapter) nowadays or are you saying ActiveRecord runs in a JRuby process when running Rails?
-- Alifatisk Reply

Yes, rails targets jruby, so it should be possible to accomplish something similar with activerecord as well. I just like Sequel the way I like Sinatra.
-- nurettin Reply

Not the OP, but the number of people actually knowing about it and/or using it is quite low, and I feel it is one of the most underrated & powerful libraries in the Ruby world!
-- thibaut_barrere Reply

Really? That totally changes my assumption. I thought it was a well known gem. I reach out to when whenever I want to automate some database related tasks OR when I want to know if there is a better way to write a sql query.
-- Alifatisk Reply