On Wed, Nov 29, 2023 at 10:26 AM Tom Lane <tgl@sss.pgh.pa.us> wrote:
I could see splitting this into three columns:
1. Preferred name (the standard's name, if it's a standard type)
2. Internal name (pg_type.typname), perhaps only if different from #1
3. Other aliases
I like the preferred name being the preferred name and focal point, as most users aren't going to much care about internal type names. For "int", "decimal" and "char", how about a "shorthand" column? Wouldn't be too wide. So:
1. Name
2. Shorthand
3. Internal name
4. Description
And maybe a paragraph at the top explaining that types have multiple names that can be used interchangeably, but users are encouraged to use the standard names for beauty and clarity.
I could also see splitting this into two tables. First just a) Name, Description. Second, a paragraph about internal names and such, then b) Name, Shorthand, Internal Name, Description. That way for quick reference people will just see a simple table that gets 90% of readers what they need.