Re: Some questions about the array.

On 6 November 2015 at 12:45, Robert Haas <robertmhaas@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Thu, Nov 5, 2015 at 9:57 AM, YUriy Zhuravlev
> <u.zhuravlev@postgrespro.ru> wrote:
>> Hello hackers.
>> There are comments to my patch? Maybe I should create a separate thread?
>> Thanks.
>
> You should add this on commitfest.postgresql.org.
>
> I think the first question that needs to be answered is "do we want
> this?".  I'm sure I know your answer, but what do other people think?

Omitted bounds are common in other languages and would be handy. I
don't think they'd cause any issues with multi-dimensional arrays or
variable start-pos arrays.

I'd love negative indexes, but the variable-array-start (mis)feature
means we can't have those. I wouldn't shed a tear if
variable-start-position arrays were deprecated and removed, but that's
a multi-year process, and I'm not convinced negative indexes justify
it even though the moveable array start pos feature seems little-used.

Since the start-pos is recorded in the array, I wonder if it's worth
supporting negative indexing for arrays with the default 1-indexed
element numbering, and just ERRORing for others. Does anyone really
use anything else?

-- Craig Ringer                   http://www.2ndQuadrant.com/PostgreSQL Development, 24x7 Support, Training & Services