Re: The fable of DEMETRIUS, CONSTRAINTICUS, and AUTOMATICUS

From: Gene Wirchenko <genew_at_mail.ocis.net>
Date: Thu, 21 Oct 2004 11:18:05 -0700
Message-ID: <m5vfn091e62uu2m94v55891s9680ir0vej_at_4ax.com>


"Laconic2" <laconic2_at_comcast.net> wrote:

>
>"Gene Wirchenko" <genew_at_mail.ocis.net> wrote in message
>news:urlfn05vemtaq7d7viqhevt8vl9ptsuf03_at_4ax.com...
>> "Laconic2" <laconic2_at_comcast.net> wrote:
>>
>> >Don't get me started on VARCHAR! I've got a whole rant on that subject!
>>
>> If you already have a rant, you have already started, so...
>>
>> So what is wrong with varchar?
>
>Sometimes, nothing.
>
>I just don't like the way it was implemented in either Oracle or Rdb.
>
>And I also don't like most DBD's reasons for choosing it over CHAR. If the
>reasons are logical, fine. If they are physical, it's the wrong tool.

     Oh, a conditional rant. Bah! You are just being sensible. <BEG>

>> My surname has nine characters. Some have more; some have fewer.
>> To accurately represent them requires awareness of the length.
>
>It depends. If I set BLANK = ' '
>And I concatenate SURNAME || BLANK, is this a new surname?

     I would say yes, assuming that surnames are strings. (If there is a surname domain, then it is a toss-up. I would then favour no, since what surname has trailing blanks.)

>This may sound trivial to you, but I've spent more time than I would like
>on bugs related to this question.

     Features can bite. How exactly have you been bitten? (String comparisons for equality failing when they "ought" to?)

Sincerely,

Gene Wirchenko

Computerese Irregular Verb Conjugation:

     I have preferences.
     You have biases.
     He/She has prejudices.
Received on Thu Oct 21 2004 - 20:18:05 CEST

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