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Probably not. Lots of "critical" software is re-written frequently. I met the head of IT at Target during a presentation he gave on how they switched from PHP to NodeJS (~2012). I took a year to migrate the entire ERP solution to NodeJS (plus frontend).

Just like that, PHP was gone.

If the entire ERP can be re-written that quickly, then if a better language comes along, it will displace the Node infra.

What didn't change? SQL.

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SQL is pretty darn perfect for its purpose. As long as databases exist, SQL will exist. It is also super easy and intuitive to learn- I taught myself and it has been my bread and butter for the ~17 years since .

SQL will always exist as a lingua Franca for data because its declarative nature lets anybody immediately start using a new database/data tool just knowing basic SQL. At the same time, it’s far from perfect for all use cases - it can be much easier to write certain queries imperatively than declaratively.

I can envision a future in which databases are primarily used imperatively while still supporting SQL for those who want to use it.

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