From guy.hammond@avt.co.uk Thu, 16 Aug 2001 07:28:14 -0700 From: "Guy Hammond" Date: Thu, 16 Aug 2001 07:28:14 -0700 Subject: RE: OT: cryptography speech Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Very dangerous. Like, Captain Kirk might say, "Mr. Spock, cancel the self destruct sequence" so Mr. Spock goes to his SQL*Plus terminal and types: SQL> ALTER STARSHIP SET AUTODESTRUCT But at that moment, Dr McCoy walks in, slips in a puddle of Romulan Ale and grabs Mr. Spock for support, whose finger slips on to the ENTER key. The Enterprise replies: ERROR at line 1: ORA-435334: keyword not found where expected, substituting ON to continue... :0) g -----Original Message----- Sent: Thursday, August 16, 2001 3:46 PM To: Multiple recipients of list ORACLE-L Funny. I liked the self-referential acronym bit. I don't like computers (or computer languages or OSs) that "know" what I want to do but refuse to do it. An example from our own wonderful SQLPlus: SQL> select table_name sys.dba_tables; select table_name sys.dba_tables * ERROR at line 1: ORA-00923: FROM keyword not found where expected Now why doesn't it just put the "FROM" in and get on with it? It "knows" what's missing!! Is it doing this to embarrass and annoy me or am I just being paranoid (and if I'm going to be "nuts" I'd rather be paranoid than a single-noid). -- Please see the official ORACLE-L FAQ: http://www.orafaq.com -- Author: Guy Hammond INET: guy.hammond@avt.co.uk Fat City Network Services -- (858) 538-5051 FAX: (858) 538-5051 San Diego, California -- Public Internet access / Mailing Lists -------------------------------------------------------------------- To REMOVE yourself from this mailing list, send an E-Mail message to: ListGuru@fatcity.com (note EXACT spelling of 'ListGuru') and in the message BODY, include a line containing: UNSUB ORACLE-L (or the name of mailing list you want to be removed from). You may also send the HELP command for other information (like subscribing).