Re: RfD: more powerful "any" types

On Fri, Sep 11, 2009 at 10:30 AM, Tom Lane <tgl@sss.pgh.pa.us> wrote:
> "Kevin Grittner" <Kevin.Grittner@wicourts.gov> writes:
>> I think the main benefit of a sprintf type function for PostgreSQL is
>> in the formatting (setting length, scale, alignment), not in making
>> concatenation more pretty.
>
> Exactly, which is why I'm so distressed that this proposal not only
> hasn't got that, but is designed so that it's impossible to add it
> later.

I like the idea of making concatenation more pretty, quite frankly.
No one has really responded to Pavel's contention that this is what
to_char() is for.  Twice the code paths = twice the bugs, twice the
places that have to be updated when some new feature is added, etc.
On the other hand I don't really strongly object if someone else wants
to do the work, either.  I do think allowing for upward compatibility
with future extensions is probably smart, regardless of how simple or
complex the first version is.

...Robert