Re: should one use ANSI join syntax when writing an Oracle application?

On 10/17/2006 01:43:14 AM, Niall Litchfield wrote:
> My personal preference is for the ANSI standard syntax, I really find that
> seperating out the joins from the other conditions helps me understand more
> easily what a query is trying to achieve. It also helps debugging IMO.

How, exactly are joins different, in your opinion? .
>
> So I'd say that by and large my experience has been positive and that I find
> the style a lot easier to understand.

SQL is modeled after naive set theory. The most basic goal of SQL is to help users define what to select from where. SQL can be described as "Venn diagrams meet spreadsheets". In order to achieve that, one should specify columns being selected and conditions that must be met in order for the row to qualify for the desired subset. My greatest beef with ANSI joins is precisely the fact that all the columns from both tables are included in the join. The language of ANSI join is an idiotization of the standard SQL. Whoever came up with that deserves to die slow and horrible death. Probably, someone has had a cunning plan how to make SQL better. Result is what I call a Baldrick addendum to the standard SQL.

-- 
Mladen Gogala
http://www.mladen-gogala.com

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