SUQL

SUQL is a declarative query language designed to unify data retrieval across heterogeneous data sources, including relational databases, document stores, graph stores, and web APIs. It provides a single syntax and semantic model intended to support cross-source analytics, allowing queries to reference multiple backends and produce uniform results without requiring data to be consolidated beforehand.

Design goals include interoperability, portability, and developer productivity. SUQL emphasizes source-agnostic querying, schema mapping, and extensibility. It relies on a canonical logical model and per-source adapters that translate SUQL constructs into native queries while preserving semantics across sources.

SUQL uses a SQL-like syntax with clauses such as SELECT, FROM, and WHERE, extended to reference multiple sources in a single query. It supports joins across sources, path expressions for nested data, and operator overloading for different data models. The language includes built-in connectors, type inference, aggregates, window functions, and a security model for access control and data masking. It also supports semi-structured data and schema-on-read.

Architecture and implementation center on modular components: a parser, semantic normalizer, query planner, and executor. Connectors translate SUQL to source-native operations, while the optimizer attempts to push work down to data sources when possible and to merge results efficiently. Reference implementations and vendor-specific adapters exist for databases, document stores, and APIs.

Status and reception: since its proposal, SUQL has been implemented in several data-integration platforms and pilot projects. Advocates cite simplified analytics across data silos, while critics point to a learning curve and potential performance costs compared to specialized backends.