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Dolt is Git for Data: a SQL database that you can fork, clone, branch, merge

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752 points crazypython | 2 comments | 06 Mar 21 21:15 UTC | HN request time: 0.5s | source
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joshspankit ◴[06 Mar 21 22:46 UTC] No.26371220[source]▶
I never understood why we don’t have SQL databases that track all changes in a “third dimension” (column being one dimension, row being the second dimension).

It might be a bit slower to write, but hook the logic in to write/delete, and suddenly you can see exactly when a field was changed to break everything. The right middleware and you could see the user, IP, and query that changed it (along with any other queries before or after).

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1. tthun ◴[06 Mar 21 23:12 UTC] No.26371403[source]▶
MS SQL server 2016 onwards has temporal tables that support this (point in time data)
replies(1): >>26371718 #
2. joshspankit ◴[06 Mar 21 23:57 UTC] No.26371718[source]▶
Huh. I just read the spec. Not quite three 'dimension', but looks like exactly what I was asking for: a (reasonably) automatic and transparent record of previous values, as well as timestamps for when they changed.

I'll call this a "you learn something every day" and a "hey thanks @tthun (and @predakanga)"