Re: RE : full featured alter table?

On Sat, Jun 14, 2003 at 06:55:36PM +0200, Bruno BAGUETTE wrote:
> Hello everybody,
>
> > The one thing we don't have that I think would be useful is a
> > way to re-order the columns in a table. Maybe it's just me,
> > but I tend to want column to appear in a specific order, and
> > the only way you can accomplish this today is by re-creating
> > the entire table.
>
> I agree with Jim, this would be a 'cool but not mandatory' feature ! :-)
>
> This feature is not mandatory since I avoid the use SELECT * FROM...
> (and I forbid the use of SELECT * to my subordinates).

99.999% of the time, if you put SELECT * into code, you should be strung
up by your own entrails. But do you mean to tell me that when you're
testing stuff on the command line you never, ever use SELECT *?

BTW, de-coupling column definition and presentation order from internal
column order in the tuples is mandatory before PGSQL could store things
internally in the most optimal order. I find it very interesting that
many people assumed that PGSQL ordered columns however it wanted in the
tuples; I don't know of any major database that does this, even though
it probably makes a lot of sense (of course some DBA's would be very
unhappy about the loss of control, so you'd probably want an over-ride).
--
Jim C. Nasby (aka Decibel!) jim(at)nasby(dot)net
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