Date: Sat, 11 Jan 2014 13:27:12 -0500
From: Bruce Momjian <bruce@momjian.us>
To: Greg Smith <greg@2ndQuadrant.com>
Cc: pgsql-docs <pgsql-docs@postgresql.org>
Subject: Re: Reserved word "date" in tutorial example
Message-ID: <20140111182712.GC28089@momjian.us>
References: <519B8281.10105@2ndQuadrant.com>
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On Tue, May 21, 2013 at 10:19:45AM -0400, Greg Smith wrote:
> doc/src/sgml/query.sgml includes a tutorial example with this definition:
> 
> CREATE TABLE weather (
> ...
>     date            date
> );
> 
> The fact that "date" is used for both the column name and the type
> is highlighted by two later comments:
> 
>   (Yes, the column of type date is also named date.  This might be
> convenient or confusing--you choose.)
> 
>   type names are not key words in the syntax, except where required
> to support special cases in the SQL standard.
> 
> But as a documentation comment submitted recently points out, "date"
> *is* a reserved word in the SQL spec: http://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/interactive/sql-keywords-appendix.html
> , just not in PostgreSQL.  That makes using it as a column name in
> an example an odd choice for a tutorial.  The example is using the
> ambiguity to point out where the line between what is and isn't
> legal is at, and maybe that's a feature instead of a bug.
> 
> There are a few approaches that could improve on this:
> 
> -Keep all of that, but expand the description to link to "SQL Key
> Words"--right now "SQL standard" doesn't go to that section--and say
> this might be a reserved word in other SQL implementations.  This is
> the smallest useful improvement.
> 
> -Change the name of the column and remove the two related
> descriptions.  This will lose the lesson about where the parser's
> line is at.
> 
> -Do both:  move this example of parser trivia somewhere else, but
> remove it from the tutorial material by using a non-reserved column
> name there.

I reviewed this report and I can't see adding details to a tutorial
about the fact that other databases might use "date" as a reserved word.
I also can't see that renaming the field really add much.

-- 
  Bruce Momjian  <bruce@momjian.us>        http://momjian.us
  EnterpriseDB                             http://enterprisedb.com

  + Everyone has their own god. +


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