Re: Named Operators

On Thu, 12 Jan 2023 at 11:59, Gurjeet Singh <gurjeet(at)singh(dot)im> wrote:
>
> On Thu, Jan 12, 2023 at 1:49 AM Matthias van de Meent
> <boekewurm+postgres(at)gmail(dot)com> wrote:
> >
> > On Thu, 12 Jan 2023 at 10:16, Gurjeet Singh <gurjeet(at)singh(dot)im> wrote:
> > >
> > > Technically correct name of this feature would be Readable Names for
> > > Operators, or Pronounceable Names for Operators. But I'd like to call
> > > it Named Operators.
> > >
> > > With this patch in place, the users can name the operators as
> > > :some_pronounceable_name: instead of having to choose from the special
> > > characters like #^&@.
> > > [...]
> > > I think Named Operators will significantly improve the readability
> > > of queries.
> >
> > Couldn't the user better opt to call the functions that implement the
> > operator directly if they want more legible operations? So, from your
> > example, `SELECT box_add(a, b)` instead of `SELECT a :add_point: b`?
>
> Matter of taste, I guess. But more importantly, defining an operator
> gives you many additional features that the planner can use to
> optimize your query differently, which it can't do with functions. See
> the COMMUTATOR, HASHES, etc. clause in the CREATE OPERATOR command.

I see. Wouldn't it be better then to instead make it possible for the
planner to detect the use of the functions used in operators and treat
them as aliases of the operator? Or am I missing something w.r.t.
differences between operator and function invocation?

E.g. indexes on `int8pl(my_bigint, 1)` does not match queries for
`my_bigint + 1` (and vice versa), while they should be able to support
that, as OPERATOR(pg_catalog.+(int8, int8)) 's function is int8pl.

Kind regards,

Matthias van de Meent