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improve flow of evolving-sql text in book intro #6592

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improve flow of evolving-sql text in book intro
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31 changes: 16 additions & 15 deletions book/src/intro.md
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Expand Up @@ -395,9 +395,8 @@ the polymorphic algebra of super-structured data implemented by SuperDB.
## Evolving SQL

Despite SQL's enduring success,
it is widely accepted that there are serious flaws in the language and
a number of authors argue that SQL should be replaced in its entirety.
Among many such works, here are some noteworthy arguments:
it is widely accepted that there are serious flaws with the language.
Here are some noteworthy arguments that build the case:

* [A Critique of the SQL Database Language](https://dl.acm.org/doi/pdf/10.1145/984549.984551)
a 1983 paper by
Expand All @@ -409,25 +408,27 @@ Query Language](https://www.cidrdb.org/cidr2024/papers/p48-neumann.pdf)
by [Neumann](https://db.in.tum.de/~neumann/)
and [Leis](https://www.cs.cit.tum.de/dis/team/prof-dr-viktor-leis/).

A very different approach is taken in
[SQL Has Problems. We Can Fix Them: Pipe Syntax In SQL](https://research.google/pubs/sql-has-problems-we-can-fix-them-pipe-syntax-in-sql/), which argues that SQL
should be merely improved upon and not replaced outright.
Here the authors argue that except for compositional syntax, SQL is
These publications all argue that SQL is so problematic it should
be replaced outright. In contrast, the authors of
[SQL Has Problems. We Can Fix Them: Pipe Syntax In SQL](https://research.google/pubs/sql-has-problems-we-can-fix-them-pipe-syntax-in-sql/) propose that SQL
should be merely improved upon by creating a superset of SQL.
Except for compositional syntax, the paper says SQL is
perfectly reasonable and we should live with its anachronisms (see Section 2.4).
Thus, their
[Pipe SQL specification](https://github.com/google/zetasql/blob/master/docs/pipe-syntax.md)
carries forward SQL eccentricities into their modern adaptation
of pipes for SQL.

SuperSQL takes a different approach and seizes the opportunity to modernize
the ergonomics of a SQL-compatible query language.
While embracing backward compatibility,
SuperSQL takes this approach of backward compatibility further
and seizes on the opportunity to introduce a language that is both
SQL compatible and also adapted to super-structured data.
In this way,
SuperSQL diverges significantly from SQL anachronisms in the pipe portion of
the language by introducing
[pipe scoping](super-sql/intro.md#pipe-scoping) semantics
that coexist next to the
[relational scoping](super-sql/intro.md#relational-scoping) semantics
of SQL tables and columns.
the language by introducing the concept of
[pipe scoping](super-sql/intro.md#pipe-scoping) while exploiting the
static typing of super-structured data
to simultaneously support [relational scoping](super-sql/intro.md#relational-scoping)
for SQL tables and columns.

The vision here is that comprehensive backward
compatibility can reside in the SQL operators while a modernized syntax and
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