separating TAP and query languages

[Roy Williams]

>
> How do you know that these things cost "years of effort"? Have you 
> spent years implementing them?
I'm thinking of ADQL. Years to *robust* implementation (not just 
prototype). I think of 3-page ADQL expressions full of variable names 
and metadata. Getting the types and metadata right between SQLServer and 
ADQL. Proper error returns that tell the user how to fix it, rather than 
just NullPointerException. A REGION with a thousand holes intersecting 
one with a million holes. All the SOAP and VOSI and authentication and 
service logs to deal with. Documentation that you can read at different 
levels. To a data provider, implementing the ADQL monolith is VERY 
complex and needs weeks just to understand the dozen required documents.

The point of the Multicone service is that you*don't* need to do ADQL!  
The point is that it gets 90% of what the astronomer wants for 10% of 
the effort! And it can be made robust as well.

Roy

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California Institute of Technology
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