Re: [HACKERS] Re: PL/PGSQL function with parameters

> Josh Berkus wrote:
>> If you think that's the best way.  What we're really all wanting is a wy
>> in PL/pgSQL to pass a parameter as an object name.  Doing it *without*
>> using EXECUTE would be even better than modifying EXECUTE to accomdate
>> SELECT ... INTO variable.
>> 
>> If we can write queries that address tables by OID, that would give us a
>> quick workaround ... get the OID from pg_class, then pass it to the
>> query as variables of type OID:
>> 
>> SELECT column1_oid, column2_oid FROM table_oid
>> WHERE column2_oid = variable1
>> ORDER BY column1_oid;

This is completely pointless, AFAICS.  If you don't know what table
is to be selected from, then you can't do *any* semantic checking or
planning in advance, so you might as well just do the entire processing
at runtime.  That's exactly what EXECUTE does.  I don't see any
functional advantage in an intermediate step between plpgsql's normal
behavior (caching of query plans) and EXECUTE.  If it bought some
readability over constructing a query string for EXECUTE, then maybe,
but dealing in table and column OIDs is not my idea of a pleasant or
readable way to program ...
        regards, tom lane