Re: [HACKERS] SERIAL data type

t-ishii(at)sra(dot)co(dot)jp (Tatsuo Ishii) writes:
> A few questions for new SERIAL data type:
> [...]
> o explicit insertion to the serial column sets the value specified.
> This is good. However, next implicit insertion results in that
> previous value from the sequence + 1 is set.
>
> create table t (c text, i serial);
> insert into t values('a');
> insert into t values('b',100);
> insert into tvalues('c');
> select * from t;
>
> a 1
> b 100
> c 2
>
> This seems a little bit unnatural for me. may be i of the thrid row
> should be 101?

The action above is definitely 'not right'. It is my opinion that either:

1. Explicit insertion into a serial column be dis-allowed.
2. If explicit insertion is allowed, then the sequence need to be set so
the next implicit insertsion result in the last explicit insertion
value + 1 being used (i.e. 101 instead of 2 in the example above).

Of these two options, I prefer #1.

Also, should we be able to specify a starting value for the sequence when the
table is created? For example "create table t (c text, i serial(1000));" to
set the starting value of the sequence to 1000.
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