Should we deprecate PLSQL?

I see @IsaacG has put together a PR to deprecate PLSQL. I think I’m probably :+1: on this, but I’m open to arguments against this.

Maybe people with opinions could list out the pros/cons of keeping/deprecating?

PR says “Deprecated in favor of SQLite”. Are SQLite and PL/SQL similar enough to deprecate PL/SQL?

Yes.

The SQLite track was built specifically because it’s similar and it’s easier to test (the track has a test runner), with the intention of replacing PL/SQL (which does not have a test runner).

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I’m in favor of deprecating. Not having a test runner and Oracle DBs not being that easy to setup locally makes the track hard to get started with.

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+1

Oracle stuff being hard to manage is spot on.

No. The PL/SQL track is about practicing the PL/SQL language, not plain SQL.

However, the lack of test runner infrastructure means the track doesn’t fit with the rest of V3. It’s time for it to retire.

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I am also in favor to deactivate it.

I tried to make a test runner for pl/sql and followed quite a few routes, but it did not work in the context of our test platform. If anyone can crack that problem, I would vote to re-activate it.

I think I spent less time learning SQLite, building the test runner, and writing quite a lot of exercises for a new track, than it took me to fail on PL/SQL :smiley:

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Given Oracle DBs are still relevant I would say keep it. Is there a way on this platform to have a track which opts out of the automatic test runner?

What about https://github.com/exercism/delphi? It doesn’t have a test runner and is Windows-only. Setting up Delphi for Exercism also seems fairly complicated. We have a dormant Free Pascal track at https://github.com/exercism/free-pascal that supports more platforms so that might be a viable replacement if anyone wants to take that on with me after the Arturo track goes live.

Unlike Delphi, PL/SQL has very few exercises implemented.

None of us requested that PL/SQL be featured in 12in23 or 48in24, or ensured that is has 20+ exercises like new tracks are expected to have.

I will be happy to contribute to Free Pascal, but (unlike PL/SQL) don’t see a need to deactivate Delphi.

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Noted. I’ll retract my tangent. :slight_smile:

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I might be interested in helping a bit here, mostly out of nostalgia. Pascal was my first higher-level language after C64 Basic and 6502 assembly, so I still have a soft spot for it and always wondered why there’s no proper Free Pascal on Exercism.

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That would be great :slight_smile: