Re: 16 parameter limit

Tom,

> I was surprised that people were dissatisfied with 16 (it was 8 not
> very
> long ago...). Needing more strikes me as a symptom of either bad
> coding
> practices or missing features of other sorts.

No, not really. It's just people wanting to use PL/pgSQL procedures as
data filters. For example, I have a database with complex
dependancies and validation rules that I started under 7.0.3, when
RULES were not an option for such things and triggers were harder to
write. As a result, I have the interface push new records for, say,
the CLIENTS table through a PL/pgSQL procedure rather than writing to
the table directly. Since the table has 18 columns, I need (18 + 2
for session & user) 20 parameters for this procedure.

As John has discussed, this kind of data structure is relatively common
in both Oracle and Informix shops. As such, Postgres emulating this
ability allows DBAs from those worlds to consider moving to Postgres
and RHDB. While the same kind of business logic can be implemented
through Rules and Triggers, the Postgres structure for these things is
unique and as a result not very portable.

-Josh Berkus

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