Re: full featured alter table?

Greg Stark wrote:
>
> [This is fairly off-topic now. I just wanted to make it clear that there were
> both pros and cons to "select *" and people shouldn't assume they can just
> dismiss things as bad practice based on simplistic rules-of-thumb. I don't
> think we should continue this thread much longer.]

I just wanted to make clear that there are much less cases where a
"SELECT *" is a good thing at all and that it should be used carefull.

And sorry, you can't make a technical statement and ask "shut up" in the
same mail just to have the last word.

> In my experience ...

The problem is not that software evolves, the problem is the development
process, or better the lack of that. Why did you need 20 minutes to hunt
down that select? Missing some documentation? Missing some structure in
the code?

The reason why new features are added to PostgreSQL only through release
cycles, with lots of peer review, full BETA test phase and everything,
is not because we all are a bunch of hobby programmers who don't know
how real world software projects work. Fortunately in our case there is
no paying customer pushing a stupid manager around and forcing every day
spec changes to violate good development practices.

Jan

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