select constant.field

Why can I make following query

select 1.foobar from dual

Result is 1.0 (Oracle 10g1 EE, 32 bit Linux)

So why can I use number as a table name (or actually table alias) and why that "table" can have what ever field?

When I tried

select 1."foo bar" from dual

I get 1 as result.

--
Arto Viitanen, CSC Ltd
Espoo, Finland