Re: PL/pgSQL 'i = i + 1' Syntax

From: Hannu Krosing <hannu(at)skype(dot)net>
To: "Jim C(dot) Nasby" <jnasby(at)pervasive(dot)com>
Cc: Douglas McNaught <doug(at)mcnaught(dot)org>, Mark Dilger <pgsql(at)markdilger(dot)com>, Tom Lane <tgl(at)sss(dot)pgh(dot)pa(dot)us>, pgsql-hackers(at)postgresql(dot)org
Subject: Re: PL/pgSQL 'i = i + 1' Syntax
Date: 2006-05-19 21:38:05
Message-ID: 1148074686.3833.48.camel@localhost.localdomain
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Ühel kenal päeval, R, 2006-05-19 kell 16:12, kirjutas Jim C. Nasby:
> On Fri, May 19, 2006 at 11:03:21PM +0300, Hannu Krosing wrote:
> > A less disruptive change would be to have some predefined "record" where
> > all local variables belong to, perhaps called 'local' or '_local_' :) so
> > one could access both input parameter inp_orderdate and declared
> > variable var_orderdate as local.inp_orderdate and local.var_orderdate
> > respectively ? The old use (without local.) should still work.
>
> That might be useful for othing things, too. Having _local. and
> _parameters. could be handy, for example. But I'm not sure if this is
> better than using $ or not...

I dont think that having separate _parameters and _locals is a good idea
(then we would probably also need _const :) ). lerts have just _vars OR
_locals.

> IIRC, Oracle handles this by allowing you to prefix variables with the
> name of the function.

what happens if your function name is the same as some table name or
local record variable name ? would it still bite newcomers ?

> You can also have package-level variables, which
> can be handy (whatever happened to the discussion about adding packages
> or something similar to plpgsql??)

I got the impression that this was either a) tied together with adding
*procedures* in addition to functions or b) planned somehow to be solved
by using schemas

> > > I think it would be better to at least strongly recommend always
> > > prefixing variables and parameters with something.
> >
> > At least we should use such convention in our sample code in docs.
>
> Yes, at a minimum.
>
> > > I'd argue that it'd
> > > be even better to put us on the road of eventually mandating plpgsql
> > > variables be prefixed with something (like $), but I'm not holding my
> > > breath on that one...
> >
> > I dont believe in mandating non-backward-compatible changes, but prefix
> > $ may be one way to disambiguate vars and fieldnames.
>
> Well, this could be made optional (strict mode).

or perhaps have plpgsql_lint as a separate external tool or as a
database function :)

I guess it is hard to make a strict mode, when the need for using $ in
first place comes from inability to distinguish between fields and
variables :)

--
----------------
Hannu Krosing
Database Architect
Skype Technologies OÜ
Akadeemia tee 21 F, Tallinn, 12618, Estonia

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