Re: Why oracle can't drop column?

From: Nuno Guerreiro <nuno-v-guerreiro_at_telecom.pt>
Date: Mon, 10 Aug 1998 09:42:55 GMT
Message-ID: <35cebf65.3493883@news.telecom.pt>

On Fri, 31 Jul 1998 16:39:46 +0200, "Jean-Philippe Squelbut" <squelbut_at_csi.com> wrote:

>Because, to drop a column will invalidate all the millions of requests of
>your applications where the column is involved.

So does dropping an entire table. That is surely not an excuse for not implementing the RENAME and DROP column features on the Oracle Server for all these years.

>You can't rename it (for the same reason).
>To add a column does not affect the existing requests.
>Goncharov V a Êcrit dans le message <35C15170.9E9C92CA_at_ftc.ru>...
>>Hi!
>>
>>Why oracle can't drop column?
>>It can add column and even rename it.
>>What is sence of this restriction?
>>Many of RDBMS ca do that.
>>

I believe it has something to do with data storage - the result would produce a highly fragmented table. Perhaps, Oracle will implement the DROP feature by creating a new table.

Nuno Guerreiro Received on Mon Aug 10 1998 - 04:42:55 CDT