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Why is identifier names limited to 30 characters? [message #120225]

Wed, 18 May 2005 09:45

arwdab
Messages: 5
Registered: May 2005

Junior Member

It's a stupid desition to limit the names to 30 characters...
Just had to complain a little.

/Stefan

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Re: Why is identifier names limited to 30 characters? [message #120283 is a reply to message #120225]

Wed, 18 May 2005 14:46

Frank Naude
Messages: 4587
Registered: April 1998

Senior Member

Hi,

Right, but remember, when the database was first designed, 30 bytes was considered way too generous and a pointless waste of space.

I won't be too surprised if they lift this restriction in a future release of the database.

Best regards.

Frank

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Re: Why is identifier names limited to 30 characters? [message #120300 is a reply to message #120283]

Wed, 18 May 2005 19:22

andrew again
Messages: 2577
Registered: March 2000

Senior Member

Object names like Java are already longer than 30, but that's because the name was pre-defined by Java.

SQL> descr user_objects
 Name                                      Null?    Type
 ----------------------------------------- -------- ----------------------------
 OBJECT_NAME                                        VARCHAR2(128)
 SUBOBJECT_NAME                                     VARCHAR2(30)
 OBJECT_ID                                          NUMBER
 DATA_OBJECT_ID                                     NUMBER
 OBJECT_TYPE                                        VARCHAR2(18)
 CREATED                                            DATE
 LAST_DDL_TIME                                      DATE
 TIMESTAMP                                          VARCHAR2(19)
 STATUS                                             VARCHAR2(7)
 TEMPORARY                                          VARCHAR2(1)
 GENERATED                                          VARCHAR2(1)
 SECONDARY                                          VARCHAR2(1)

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Re: Why is identifier names limited to 30 characters? [message #440892 is a reply to message #120225]

Wed, 27 January 2010 15:48

Pool_Man
Messages: 1
Registered: January 2010
Location: Australia

Junior Member

As I understand it the identifier names are set to 30 bytes but can be set to 30 characters instead, could someone tell me how this change is made?

Many thanks.

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Re: Why is identifier names limited to 30 characters? [message #440896 is a reply to message #440892]

Wed, 27 January 2010 18:41

BlackSwan
Messages: 26766
Registered: January 2009
Location: SoCal

Senior Member

>As I understand it the identifier names are set to 30 bytes
Upon what do you base your understanding?

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Re: Why is identifier names limited to 30 characters? [message #448052 is a reply to message #120300]

Fri, 19 March 2010 04:30

Emanprinting
Messages: 1
Registered: March 2010

Junior Member

I don't know about this but you tell me thanks for it.

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Re: Why is identifier names limited to 30 characters? [message #448114 is a reply to message #448052]

Fri, 19 March 2010 09:04

joy_division
Messages: 4963
Registered: February 2005
Location: East Coast USA

Senior Member

Emanprinting wrote on Fri, 19 March 2010 04:30

I don't know about this but you tell me thanks for it.

What does this mean and how is it relevant to this thread?

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Re: Why is identifier names limited to 30 characters? [message #449230 is a reply to message #120225]

Sun, 28 March 2010 07:11

Kevin Meade
Messages: 2103
Registered: December 1999
Location: Connecticut USA

Senior Member

Maybe it has to do with multi-byte languages in which a single character can require multiple bytes. Thus you set your database such that it is defined as a multi-character database, when you create it. This is just a guess.

As to the original question, why is it 30 bytes? Who really knows. But consider these observations. Oracle has been around for 30 years. Larry left IBM to build it. 30 years ago, COBOL was the language of choice. Indeed, here is an interesting factoid which I read a few years back and which I presume to still be true:

Quote:

COBOL accounts for more lines of code actually in use in the world today than any other programming language. Some consider it the most successful language ever created. I remember meeting the lady who invented COBOL, Commodore Grace Hopper (she retired a Rear Admiral (rip 1992)) at a DPMA meeting in my youth. Wish I still had that NANO-SECOND she gave us all.

So why would this all be relevant? Well as I remember it, the maximum size of a token in IBM COBOL was and still is 30 bytes so an IBM guy building a database would naturally gravitate to something he was familiar with.

Kevin

[Updated on: Sun, 28 March 2010 07:20]

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