Re: How to print column heading only in SQL plus

On 2013-09-16, Mladen Gogala <gogala.mladen_at_gmail.com> wrote:
> On Sun, 15 Sep 2013 12:52:04 +0100, Eric wrote:
>
>> SQL*Plus does groups and totals!
>
> SQL*Plus is interactive. That's its greatest strength. And weakness.

Not very arguable, but also not at all relevant to the line it appears to answer!

>> . Perl's "format" is, surprise, surprise, pretty handy for formatting,
>> and rolling your own groups and totals is easy in Perl (if you know it
>> well enough).
>
> SQL*Plus has pagination and per-page totals? That's news to me. Are you
> sure? I know that there is "set pagesize" command, but per page totals?

It doesn't, and I didn't say that it did.

>> . Someone else has already doubted "neat, clean and understandable" in
>> this thread.
>
> That depends on the programming style. As any language, Perl makes it
> possible to write horribly obfuscated spaghetti code. On the other hand,
> the English language makes it possible to write perfectly legitimate
> nonsensical statements. You can catch a lot of those on TV. That doesn't
> mean that the English language is inadequate, it means that people
> sometimes use it the wrong way.
> For the record, Perl also makes it possible to write a very neat, clean
> and easy to read code.

So the Perl Obfuscation Contest encourages that does it? Seems more that the Perl community (whatever that is) is proud that their language can be used to write unbelievably arcane scripts.

> If you're trying to put a nail in the wall and hit
> your fingernail instead, it's not because the hammer is badly designed.

Well actually, it might be (slippery handle?). Appropriate but incorrectly carried out use of a tool shows us nothing about inappropriate use of the tool.

>> I agree with them (except about Ruby, which I haven't
>> tried).

> I haven't tried either, but being a gypsy consultant who travels
> frequently, I need something that works anywhere I go. And that's not
> Ruby.

Which is why I use Perl sometimes. But so often it is only available as the one that's part of Oracle, and I have even seen its existence denied.

>> . "Fun" is personal and subjective.

> Nope. The meaning of the noun "fun" is "programming in Perl". That's the
> definition.

On that basis, there is no point in discussing it further.

Eric

-- 
ms fnd in a lbry