SQL or Death? Seminar Series — Spring 2025

Suppose somebody has been rubbing gasoline on their body since the 1970s. Would you marry that person even if they smelled terrible? But suppose this person starts showering every day so they smell a little better. They also famously get along with nearly everyone on the planet and makes a lot of money. What about marrying this person now? This is the question that we face today in the world of databases. SQL is 50 years old. It started off smelling kind of funny, but it has gotten better over the years. There have been many attempts at replacing it, but none have succeeded.

The Carnegie Mellon University Database Research Group is exploring this question with the SQL or Death? Seminar Series. The talks in this series will present ideas on either (1) making SQL go as fast as possible or (2) replacing SQL with something better.

All talks are on-line and open to the public via Zoom. You do not need to be a current CMU student to attend. Random people off of the internet are especially welcome. Videos will be posted on the CMU-DB YouTube Channel after each talk.