I wasn't sure if general syntax criticism should be applied here. But since
you suggested brackets, I'd like to counter-act and remind this group of
the SQL standard. As of SQL:2008, the standard specifies the following two:
*6.36 <array value constructor>*
<array value constructor> ::=
<array value constructor by enumeration>
| <array value constructor by query>
<array value constructor by enumeration> ::=
ARRAY <left bracket or trigraph> <array element list> <right bracket or
trigraph>
<array value constructor by query> ::=
ARRAY <left paren> <query expression> [ <order by clause> ] <right paren>
Whereas...
*7.1 <row value constructor>*
<row value constructor> ::=
<common value expression>
| <boolean value expression>
| <explicit row value constructor>
<explicit row value constructor> ::=
<left paren> <row value constructor element> <comma>
<row value constructor element list> <right paren>
| ROW <left paren> <row value constructor element list> <right paren>
| <row subquery>
Hence, according to the standard, arrays *must *be expressed using the
ARRAY constructor, whereas tuples/rows *may *be expressed using the ROW
constructor, or just using a constructor-less, parenthesis-delimited
argument list.
Following suit with the standard would probably impose a major
(incompatible) change in H2, hence evaluating this carefully is important.
Personally, I think letting the non-standard H2 ARRAY syntax live is a
viable option, as long as it doesn't contradict the common understanding of
what a tuple is and how it behaves in SQL...
Am Samstag, 1. September 2012 09:41:54 UTC+2 schrieb Rami Ojares:
>
> Another would be to use [ ... ] as array constructor and ( ... ) as
> tuple constructor.
> That would be more in line with widespread conventions.
> Just a thought.
>
> - rami
>
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