Tino Wildenhain <tino@wildenhain.de> writes:
> why not just order the output columns in alphabetical order?
Because it would violate the SQL spec. While the spec does not propose
any ALTER TABLE command that would let one rearrange the column order,
it is perfectly clear about the semantics of "SELECT *" and "INSERT"
when one has only done CREATE TABLE and ALTER TABLE ADD COLUMN. We do
not get to invent our own behavior there.
regards, tom lane