Re: INOUT text[],OUT text parameter handling problem

On Tue, May 24, 2016 at 7:19 PM, Michael Moore <michaeljmoore(at)gmail(dot)com>
wrote:

> So, why would anybody ever want an INOUT parameter? Rhetorical question,
> not expecting an answer. So, since I am going to have to get a copy back
> from the CALLED function, then I will need to replace the original text[]
> with the one I got back. It would probably be more efficient to just do the
> array_append function in the caller and pass the array length to fbind.
>

​FWIW the line immediately preceding the one quoted previously was a good
opportunity to "call by reference" if it was allowed:

> ​using_values := array_append(using_values, 'the first entry'::text);

array_append is a "pure function"[1] though for non-trivial arrays having
mutable properties would be much more efficient.

By the way, not that you should care, but Oracle has an INOUT parameter
> that does a COPY or you can specify "INOUT NOCOPY" which is of course your
> call by reference.
>

​It helps explain where all these heretical thoughts come from ;)

David J.

​
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Functional_programming#Pure_functions