[Haskell-cafe] Haskell DB bindings

[oleg at pobox.com]

Krasimir Angelov wrote:
> There are three active database libraries: HDBC, HSQL and Takusen.
> It is quite disappointing from my point of view. Recently there was
> the same situation with the GUI libraires. 

I think the dichotomy between lower-level Haskell libraries (whose API
is closer/faithful to the underlying library) and higher-level, more
idiomatic libraries will always exist, because there is need for
both. Regarding GUI libraries, the bulk of wxHaskell is close to
wxWindows. However, there are also more higher-level, more idiomatic
interfaces built on the top of it. Takusen has its own lower-level
layer -- which can be replaced with other suitable lower-level layer,
for example, HSQL. By suitable I mean the layer should not improve the
underlying database API too much, e.g., add finalizers to database and
session handlers, because avoiding such finalizers was one of the main
reason for the design of Takusen.

It may be an interesting experiment to see if Takusen proper can be
moved to use HSQL, for example, as the lower-level layer. Also, perhaps
HSQL may find something useful to borrow from Takusen's lower-level
layer.