Re: SHOW TABLES

On Thu, Jul 15, 2010 at 17:30, Thom Brown <thombrown@gmail.com> wrote:
> On 15 July 2010 16:20, Simon Riggs <simon@2ndquadrant.com> wrote:
>> On Thu, 2010-07-15 at 11:05 -0400, Tom Lane wrote:
>>> Simon Riggs <simon@2ndQuadrant.com> writes:
>>> > The biggest turn off that most people experience when using PostgreSQL
>>> > is that psql does not support memorable commands.
>>>
>>> > I would like to implement the following commands as SQL, allowing them
>>> > to be used from any interface.
>>>
>>> > SHOW TABLES
>>> > SHOW COLUMNS
>>> > SHOW DATABASES
>>>
>>> This has been discussed before, and rejected before.  Please see
>>> archives.
>>
>> Many years ago. I think it's worth revisiting now in light of the number
>> of people now joining the PostgreSQL community and the greater
>> prevalence other ways of doing it. The world has changed, we have not.
>>
>> I'm not proposing any change in function, just a simpler syntax to allow
>> the above information to be available, for newbies.
>>
>> Just for the record, I've never ever met anyone that said "Oh, this \d
>> syntax makes so much sense. I'm a real convert to Postgres now you've
>> shown me this". The reaction is always the opposite one; always
>> negative. Which detracts from our efforts elsewhere.
>>
>> --
>
> Looks like the last time this was discussed, there wasn't any clear
> conclusion.  Someone created a patch and it's still on the TODO list:
> http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2010-01/msg01845.php

That one is about:
a) doing it in psql., not the backend
b) not actually implementing the command, but implementing hints for
the user telling them which is the correct command

Is there an actual common use-case for having these commands available
for *non-psql* interfaces?

--
 Magnus Hagander
 Me: http://www.hagander.net/
 Work: http://www.redpill-linpro.com/