Re: SHOW TABLES

On Thu, 2010-07-15 at 11:05 -0400, Tom Lane wrote:
> Simon Riggs <simon(at)2ndQuadrant(dot)com> writes:
> > The biggest turn off that most people experience when using PostgreSQL
> > is that psql does not support memorable commands.
>
> > I would like to implement the following commands as SQL, allowing them
> > to be used from any interface.
>
> > SHOW TABLES
> > SHOW COLUMNS
> > SHOW DATABASES
>
> This has been discussed before, and rejected before. Please see
> archives.

Many years ago. I think it's worth revisiting now in light of the number
of people now joining the PostgreSQL community and the greater
prevalence other ways of doing it. The world has changed, we have not.

I'm not proposing any change in function, just a simpler syntax to allow
the above information to be available, for newbies.

Just for the record, I've never ever met anyone that said "Oh, this \d
syntax makes so much sense. I'm a real convert to Postgres now you've
shown me this". The reaction is always the opposite one; always
negative. Which detracts from our efforts elsewhere.

--
Simon Riggs www.2ndQuadrant.com
PostgreSQL Development, 24x7 Support, Training and Services