Re: [HACKERS] Are we losing momentum?

Peter Eisentraut <peter_e(at)gmx(dot)net> writes:
> Sean Chittenden writes:
>> I don't think these should be hacked into the backend/libpq, but I
>> think it'd be a huge win to hack in "show *" support into psql for
>> MySQL users so they can type:
>>
>> SHOW (databases|tables|views|functions|triggers|schemas);

> Well, we (will) have the information schema, and if you like you can put
> it in the path and write
> select * from tables;
> etc., which seems just as good.

I think Sean's idea is not to make it "just as easy as MySQL", it's to
make it "the *same* as MySQL", for the benefit of those that refuse to
learn differently. Them as won't adjust to "\dt" in place of "show
tables" aren't likely to adjust to "select * from tables" either.
Not even (maybe especially not) if it's arguably a standard.

I think the idea has some merit; although I wonder whether it wouldn't
be smarter to put the code in the backend so that you don't need a
parser in psql. The SHOW code could fall back to looking at these
possibilities after it fails to find a match to a GUC variable name.

regards, tom lane