You've got to wrap the already basically-just-English SQL database in a layer of abstraction, then serve that as a proprietary API that's impossible to access without a precompiled library that targets a programming language you're not using and exposes methods that are 10x more difficult to use than a SELECT statement.

Technichally yes, SQL is an API.

Not a RESTful one, nor an HTTP one, but SQL over a socket is very much a type of API...

But I'm guessing we meant an HTTP RESTful API in which case god I hope not

GET /api/database?query=SELECT+++name+++FROM+++users+++WHERE+++id=42

I've seen that exact type of endpoint, hitting databases in production. 🔥

How does that work? You mean you allow API clients to execute arbitrary queries? How has nobody nuked your DB yet?

hey fun fact, yes it is!

SurrealDB recommends that you use their DB by giving clients direct database access lmao

Okay, hear me out. We do Stalinism, but exclusively for coding.

Should I ask you to explain? I'm scared.

I was shortly in a project where the team and the customer meant the fucking Oracle DB when they were talking about "the backend".

There was Java Spring Boot (on some outdated, old old version), but all it did was pass args from a "REST" API (doing essentially RPCs with POSTs is REST, right?) to the DB.

The DB then had functions upon functions written in pl/sql that did the actual work.

I have no idea who the fuck thought that that was even remotely a good idea.

Anyways - I am happy to have moved on to better, more sensible projects :D

Not ridiculously pedantically, of course... but yes

How do we teach new engineers to build unit tests? "Have copilot write them."

Some assembly required.