Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!cimshop!davidm From: cimshop!davidm@uunet.UU.NET (David S. Masterson) Newsgroups: comp.databases Subject: Re: RFI: Oracle, Informix & Sybase Message-ID:Date: 26 Sep 89 17:28:04 GMT References: <1460001@hp-ptp.HP.COM> <5527@tank.uchicago.edu> <7206@ditmela.oz> Sender: davidm@cimshop.UUCP Organization: Consilium Inc., Mountain View, California. Lines: 28 In-reply-to: hans@ditmela.oz's message of 26 Sep 89 00:01:55 GMT In article <7206@ditmela.oz> hans@ditmela.oz (Hans Eriksson) writes: > I've learnt that Sybase SQL is not the Standard SQL, at least not the > mebedded one. How much it differs I do not know, but it was too much > difference for us anyway. I would say that this would be a major > consideration also. > I'd say the important thing is to get the job done. If you are building your system around one particular database system, you shouldn't be overly concerned with the ANSI Standard (standards were made to be broken and more often than not are!). Too much concern with the standard and you may miss the particular capabilities of a system that will solve your problems really well (for instance, triggers which I don't think are in the ANSI Standard). In my mind, the ANSI Standard does not go nearly far enough in defining what the capabilities of a relational database should be. As such, it is nearly useless as a tool for users to base their expectations on. It is only good in keeping vendors from having wildly varying interfaces and, therefore, help prevent vendor "lock-in". If I remember correctly, Sybase supports a reasonable subset of the standard SQL and "value-adds" to that to put even more of the functionality that belongs in a database server where it belongs (in the database server!). Sybase may have been the first (give or take) to do this as successfully as they have, but I doubt they will be the last (yet another ANSI Standard -- ANSI Standard??). David Masterson uunet!cimshop!davidm p.s. my opinions are my own. I currently have nothing to do with Sybase (much to my regret).