Michael Fuhr <mike@fuhr.org> writes:
> "Allballs" is slang for "all zeros" because zeros look like balls.
> You hear it sometimes in environments that use a 24-hour clock
> (communications, military, etc.). Here's an example:
> http://www2.jpl.nasa.gov/basics/bsf2-3.html
> I don't know that "allballs" is specified in any standard, so I
> suspect that somebody who used the term added it to PostgreSQL
> (or whatever it was called at the time) for convenience.
I'm sure it isn't in any SQL standard ;-). Tom Lockhart is doubtless
responsible for it being in our code; I suppose he put it in because it
is in reasonably common use at JPL.
regards, tom lane