Re: request for sql3 compliance for the update command

Agreed folks are going to have bigger problems from Informix than just
this, and in fact I used Informix for years and didn't know they allowed
this.

However, what solution do we have for UPDATE (coll...) = (select val...)
for folks?  It is awkward to repeat a query multiple times in an UPDATE.

I think it makes sense to add it only if it adds functionality.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tom Lane wrote:
> Justin Clift <justin@postgresql.org> writes:
> > As a thought, will it add significant maintenance penalties or be 
> > detrimental?
> 
> Well, yes it will if you look at the big picture.  In the past we've
> generally regretted it when we put in nonstandard features just to be
> compatible with some other database.  (Tatsuo already pointed out the
> "foo = NULL" fiasco.)  And we get ragged on regularly for the non-SQL-
> standard features we've inherited from Berkeley Postgres (eg, the
> implicit-FROM frammish that was under discussion yesterday).
> 
> I don't think we're really doing the users any favor either.  If they
> want to move to some other database after Postgres, are they likely to
> get that other database to insert a not-very-useful nonstandard syntax?
> Sooner or later they're going to have to bite this bullet, and it may
> as well be sooner.  (I can hardly believe that this is the worst
> compatibility issue an ex-Informix user would face, anyhow.)
> 
> This is an Informix-ism.  It should stay that way.
> 
>             regards, tom lane
> 
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