talos_ 5 days ago

dbt needs to play catch up against SQLMesh feature-wise, so they bought their other competitor SDF. SQLMesh seems to have more development velocity, and dbt will need to execute a smooth transition and integration to catch up.

For context, the team behind SQLMesh also develops SQLGlot, which powers the features dbt attempts to implement

  • NortySpock 5 days ago

    To expand on this, dbt uses Jinja templating in your SQL to allow the developer to modify the query so it can be expanded at "compile-time" into the target database SQL dialect. (uni-directional, write once deploy anywhere). The key features are CICD, test automation, and transformation sequence automation.

    SQLGlot is a Abstract Symbol Tree SQL Dialect transpiler that could (in theory) convert from one dialect to another (bi-directional).

    SQLMesh appears to combine both of the above into one tool that sounds like it's even better.

wood_spirit 5 days ago

What is your initial impression and pros and cons?

(Asking as I kinda wish my company’s opinionated dbt had made some different choices)

  • apwell23 5 days ago

    con is some ppl just go crazy with jinja and create a mess. Its fine if you just stick to the basics.