Re: Connect By for 8.0

Neil Conway wrote:
> Robert Treat wrote:
> 
>> Actually i believe people want both syntax's as the former is used by 
>> oracle and the latter by db2 (iirc)
> 
> 
> I think the past consensus has been to adopt the SQL standard syntax. Is 
> there any reason to also support the Oracle syntax other than for 
> compatibility? (And if that is it, I think it's a pretty flimsy reason.)
> 
> -Neil
> 
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Neil,

Compatibility is the ONLY reason and it is related to money (the only 
language people understand).
We have done a lot of migration here and I can tell you that support for 
Oracle style CONNECT BY would make more people happy than the SQL style 
syntax.
The reason for that is very simple: Code can be migrated without any 
changes (= without introducing potential bugs).
I know that SQL standards are tremendously important but if there is an 
easy way to support Oracle syntax as well this is definitely the 
preferred way to go.
I think it is important not to think in dogmas (in this case this means 
SQL syntax is always better) - there should be a reasonable compromise 
between compatibility and standard.
My compromise would be: Support both syntaxes if possible.
Best regards,
    Hans


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