SQLScript is a domain-specific collection of extensions to standard SQL developed by SAP for its SAP HANA database. It is designed to embed complex, data-intensive application logic directly inside the database layer, following the “code-to-data” (or code pushdown) paradigm.
By executing calculations closer to where the data resides, it eliminates the need to copy massive amounts of data back and forth between the database and application servers, unlocking SAP HANA’s in-memory, multi-core parallel processing capabilities. Core Pillars of SQLScript
The language builds on top of the standard ANSI-92 SQL specification by introducing three distinct types of extensions:
Procedural Extensions: Adds control flow structures (like IF-THEN-ELSE and loops) to organize and orchestrate code paths sequentially.
Functional Extensions: Enables the creation of user-defined functions and logic containers that remain completely side-effect free, facilitating modularity.
Data Extensions: Allows developers to define local, independent table types and intermediate table variables without needing physically mapped database tables. Key Features and Syntax Quirks
If you are transitioning to SQLScript from standard SQL or other database dialects like Oracle PL/SQL, keep these unique properties in mind:
Table Variables: You can store queries inside local table variables. When defining or assigning data to a variable, you write it normally (var_name = SELECT…). However, when you read from or pass that variable, it requires a colon prefix (:var_name).
Compilation and Parallel Execution: When your code is declarative, the SAP HANA engine automatically parses it into an acyclic dataflow graph. This allows the database optimizer to aggressively parallelize non-dependent operations across the multi-core CPU architecture.
Built-in SAP Ecosystem Tools: It supports specific business-critical operations natively at the database layer, including currency conversion mechanisms, fuzzy text searching, and predictive analytics libraries. Main Components and Containers
To bundle and organize reusable logic within SQLScript, you will primarily work with three types of database artifacts: What is SQLScript? – SAP Help Portal
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