Re: Baffling SQL failure in Oracle - anyone explain?

xhoster_at_gmail.com wrote:

> > SELECT DISTINCT(First_Name)
> > FROM Employee
> > ORDER BY Last_Name
 

> Since John can only show up once in the output, is it at the top of the
> sorted list (John Andrews), in the middle (John Meany), or at the end (John
> White)?

Yes - I have come to understand that effectively what is happening is that one of the last_names is eliminated, and that essentially means that any ORDER BY on this query is nonsensical.  

> > Now, I can't for the life of me figure out why this query is failing
> > in Oracle
 

> Because it is a insane query?

I don't know about insane, but certainly "illogical captain".  

> You are missing the fact that it is not possible to fulfill the promise of
> both the distinct and the sort simultaneously.

Gotcha.

Paul...  

> Xho

-- 

plinehan __at__ yahoo __dot__ __com__

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