Re: Portable way to DROP a COLUMN?..

On Thu, 21 Sep 2006 23:18:35 -0400, Mikhail Teterin <usenet+meow_at_aldan.algebra.com> wrote:

>It is (or ought to be "trivial") from the SQL syntax perspective. Table
>alterations are among the most obvious operations and should've been in the
>SQL syntax since very beginning -- unlike with the later-added extensions
>(such as Oracle's "LIKE_REGEX"), I see no excuse for the vendors on this
>one.

Table operations to drop a column are and should be rare, because applications are designed and not hacked together, as you seem to indicate is the proper way to do it.
There are many other methods to reorganize tables (like putting a view on top of the table, or creating a new table without the column, transporting the data, dropping the old table, and renaming the new table), so you don't need the drop column statement at all. That you seem to think it is trivial, is worrying, and hopefully I never need to use any of your applications. Dropping columns during upgrades is unprofessional.

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Sybrand Bakker, Senior Oracle DBA