Re: Can Oracle drop a column?

From: Tad Davis <davist_at_isc.upenn.edu>
Date: 1997/05/29
Message-ID: <338DDD6F.1A47@isc.upenn.edu>#1/1

Fuzzy wrote:

> Nope. Dropping a column is not standard SQL, for some good reasons I
> won't go into.

I wish someone would go into them. This doesn't make any sense to me. Why can't you drop something if you find out later you don't need it? Why can't you rename it if somebody thinks of a more descriptive (or more standard) name? Working as I do in a Data Warehouse environment, with fluid requirements and the need to cross-reference columns across four application areas, I have tripped over these two limitations repeatedly. What ARE the good reasons for not being able to drop or rename a column?

The best we have been able to do is replace the table with a view that omits the unwanted columns and renames things as needed. But it would be nice to fix the problem at the source.

-- 
Tad Davis                   voice 215-898-7864
davist_at_isc.upenn.edu        fax   215-898-0386

Received on Thu May 29 1997 - 00:00:00 CDT