Comment by throwatdem12311
1 month ago
I have a hell of a time just getting any LLM to write SQL queries that have things like window functions, aggregates and lateral left joins - even when shoving the entire database schema DDL into the context.
It's so frustrating, it regularly makes me want to just quit the profession. Which is why I still just write most code by hand.
I write a lot of SQL and I haven't had these issues for months, even with smaller models. Opus can one shot most of my queries faster than I could type them.
Instead of stuffing the context with DDL I suggest:
1. Reorganize your data warehouse. It needs to be easy to find the correct data. Make sure you use ELT clear layers, meaningful schemas, and have per-model documentation. This is a ton of work, but if done right the payoff is massive.
2. I built a tool for myself to pull our warehouse into a graph for fuzzy search+dependency chain analysis. In the spring I made an MCP server for it and Claude uses that tool incredibly well for almost all queries. I haven't actually used the GUI or scripts since I built the MCP.
Claude and Devstral are the best models I've used for SQL. I cannot get Gemini to write decent modern sql -- even the Gemini data science/engineer agents in Google Cloud. I occasionally try the paid models through the API and still haven't been impressed.
>> I write a lot of SQL and I haven't had these issues for months, even with smaller models. Opus can one shot most of my queries faster than I could type them.
Same. SOTA models crush every SQL question I give them.
I think this might be a big part of the problem with the conversation about AI right now. The models have become so much better in the last ~6 months in my experience and lots of people wrote them off 1-2 years ago after they couldn't do x and 'we've hit a wall' was being thrown around everywhere.
What is SOTA?
3 replies →
If you really know SQL, writing an SQL query basically just feels like writing a prompt for a database client anyway, except it does exactly what you ask for.
I have a running joke at work.
* LLMs are just matrix multiplication. * SQL is just algebra, which has matrix multiplication as part of it. * Therefore SQL is AI * Now who is ready to invest a billion dollars in our AI SaaS company?
Or it’s just that astronaut with a gun meme: “Wait AI is just SQL?….Alway has been.”