We see no reason why we should impose one programming paradigm more than another: the logic programming style [Bancilhon 86], [Zaniolo 86], the functional programming style [Albano et al. 1986], [Banerjee et al. 87], or the imperative programming style [Stroustrup 86], [Eiffel 87], [Atwood 85] could all be chosen as programming paradigms. Another solution is that the system be independent of the programming style and support multiple programming paradigms [Skarra et al. 86], [Bancilhon et al. 88].
Of course, the choice of the syntax is also free and people will argue forever whether one should write ``john hire'' or ``john.hire'' or ``hire john'' or ``hire(john)''.