On Wed, Aug 24, 2022 at 07:58:04PM +0200, Peter Eisentraut wrote:
> On 18.08.22 20:10, Bruce Momjian wrote:
> > > Thus:
> > > Strictly speaking, this process is iteration, but 
> > > <literal>RECURSIVE</literal>
> > > is the terminology chosen by the SQL standards committee."
> > > 
> > > Because the above sounds just fine, I'd argue that if one does leave "not
> > > recursion" it should be set off by a comma.
> > I went with new wording, which should make this even clearer;  patch
> > attached.
> 
> I think this whole note is a bit misleading, like the SQL people don't know
> what recursion is.  The point is that the query is defined recursively.  The
> evaluation process is iterative.  Those two are not contradictions.

Okay, makes sense.  Here is an updated patch.

-- 
  Bruce Momjian  <br...@momjian.us>        https://momjian.us
  EDB                                      https://enterprisedb.com

  Indecision is a decision.  Inaction is an action.  Mark Batterson

diff --git a/doc/src/sgml/queries.sgml b/doc/src/sgml/queries.sgml
index 1428d99d0f..4c5a83c9cb 100644
--- a/doc/src/sgml/queries.sgml
+++ b/doc/src/sgml/queries.sgml
@@ -2172,9 +2172,8 @@ SELECT sum(n) FROM t;
 
   <note>
    <para>
-    Strictly speaking, this process is iteration not recursion, but
-    <literal>RECURSIVE</literal> is the terminology chosen by the SQL standards
-    committee.
+    While <literal>RECURSIVE</literal> allows queries to be specified
+    recursively, internally all queries are evaluated iteratively.
    </para>
   </note>
 

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