Home on Delightql Programming Language

Why Treesitter?

Fri, 06 Nov 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The delightql language implementation uses the tree-sitter parser generator as its front-end.

The TLDR for this decision is simple:

keep the tooling tied directly to the language’s source of truth
create a formal specification for the syntax of the language

The rest of this post just explains these two points.

One source of truth

I think this one is self-explanatory: the exact same grammar I use to parse the language is the exact same grammar that I can use in neovim for highlighting and text-objects. This makes tooling a first-class citizen with the language implementation.

Squinglish: SQL's Inconsistent Calling Conventions

Fri, 23 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

One of the main motivations for writing delightql was to provide a more consistent syntax for querying a database.

There have been many criticisms raised about SQL’s syntax. Classically, the order of relational operations is implicit and opaque and there is no useful abstraction for reusability. These are both true.

But my particular bugbear is the inconsistent calling convention for functions and predicates.

A calling convention is nothing more than the syntax for invoking a subroutine/function/method/whatever. In most programming languages the consistency is so built-into the language that you won’t realize what you have ’till it’s gone.

The Prolog Semicolon and SQL's Union Outer/Corresponding

Wed, 21 Oct 2026 17:20:58 -0400

-- Whither Outer?
 SELECT * FROM father OUTER UNION widgets;

Diagram from Codd’s 1979 paper: Extending the Database Relational Model to Capture More Meaning

The prolog semicolon is the syntax for the logical OR. Its usage in the language is rare, but this is not to say that the disjunction it represents in the language is rare. Multi-clause and multi-fact disjunction is Prolog’s preferred mechanism.

Using LLMs to implement delightql

Sat, 25 Jul 2026 15:22:01 -0400

Note

The date on this post is the date of writing, and not the date of publication which is 2026-10-21.

Original Tree Essay

Sun, 01 Jan 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Note

The date on this post is the date of writing, and not the date of publication which is 2026-10-21.

This is an essay I wrote to myself back in 2023 as I started to work through the syntax and arguments for having tree-groups.

The syntax is slightly different to what I eventually settled on, but is still remarkably similar.

Throughout the development process, I would write these essays to myself. They were blog posts but the kind that were private markdowns I kept in private repos. I share it here because it still is mostly correct in all the things it claims.