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Home -> Community -> Usenet -> c.d.o.server -> Re: A WTF in the Oracle reference...
Comments embedded.
chaoslight_at_gmail.com wrote:
> Here's a quote from the Oracle reference guide, page 27:
>
Really ... which guide would that be? I find no such 'quote' on any page 27 of any Oracle documentation at tahiti.oracle.com.
> "There are ways to find information from the database regardless of
> whether the data is in uppercase or lowercase, but these methods impose
> an unnecessary burden. With few exceptions, such as legal text or
> form-letter paragraphs, it is much easier to store data in the database
> in uppercase. It makes queries easier and provides a more consistent
> appearance on reports. When and if some of this data needs to be put
> into lowercase, or mixed uppercase and lowercase (such as the name and
> address on a letter), then the Oracle functions that perform the
> conversion can be invoked. It will be less trouble overall, and less
> confusing, to store and report data in uppercase."
>
Obviously this is a fabrication intended to do nothing more than provoke an argument, as it does not resemble, even remotely, the writing style found in the Oracle documentation. Why would any reliable database vendor make such ludicrous statements in their reference manuals? Never have I seen any such 'recommendation' from Oracle; possibly you were perusing the Mysql documentation or your class text and thus attributed this incorrectly.
> Is it just me, or is this advice profoundly retarded?
Possibly it's the original poster who's 'retarded' by posting such nonsense in hopes of a flame war....
> I'd love to see
> what those Oracle functions would do with a name like MacDonald, or a
> company name like eBay.
The same thing such functions would do in SQL Server, Sybase, Informix, Mysql or DB2:
SQL> select upper('MacDonald') from dual;
UPPER('MA
LOWER('MA
SQL> select initcap('MacDonald') from dual;
INITCAP('
SQL> select upper('eBay') from dual;
UPPE
LOWE
SQL> select initcap('eBay') from dual;
INIT
> Especially in the age of StudlyCaps, I don't
> think the correct capitalization of proper names is something Oracle
> can just automagically figure out.
The operative phrase in that last statement is 'I don't think', which, apparently, you don't do very well. Note the last output from each example above, using the initcap() function; Oracle has no problem setting such case nor does it have any problem recognising it in the database.
>
> Laszlo <=== not your real name, obviously, as trolls post in attempted anonymity
David Fitzjarrell Received on Tue Jan 17 2006 - 10:33:32 CST
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