Re: Portable way to DROP a COLUMN?..

From: Mikhail Teterin <usenet+meow_at_aldan.algebra.com>
Date: Thu, 21 Sep 2006 23:57:02 -0400
Message-Id: <16844411.TcLQ9b950t@aldan.algebra.com>

"Jim Kennedy" <jim dot scuba dot kennedy at gee male dot com> wrote:

> Dropping a column isn't trivial and should only be done when absolutely
> necessary.

Whether the task is trivial is besides the point.

What certainly is (or ought to be) trivial is the syntax for the operation.

> Think about what occurs when you drop a column. [...]

DB-vendors collect thousands of dollars just so that I don't have to "think about what occurs" in the DB back-end, and can concentrate on my application. This was is the promise of the standalone database servers...

Dropping a column is a legitimate operation (required, for example, when the data-model changes during application's upgrade), and there is no excuse for there not being a standardized SQL way of doing it. Having such standardized vendor-agnostic way for all (most?) operations is another big promise...

Breaking these promises (however commonplace) is simply indefensible -- stop trying...

-mi Received on Thu Sep 21 2006 - 22:57:02 CDT