Simon Riggs wrote:
If this is standards-breaking as you say, I would withdraw immediately. I checked the SQL standard and could not see how this would do so. The standard states SELECT * would return columns in order; it doesn't say what that order should be, nor does CREATE TABLE enforce the ordering to be the same as it has specified, AFAICS. Please correct me and I will withdraw. Practical issues seem far stronger drivers than standards issues here, which is why the parameter would default=off.
I did not follow the entire thread. I just wanted to point out that IIRC MS SQL Server (and maybe also Sybase) do automatically optimize the internal order of how columns are stored to move fixed length (which also means non NULLable for these two servers) columns to the left. Maybe this will serve as a reference point (not necessarily for standards compliance of course).
regards, Lukas ---------------------------(end of broadcast)--------------------------- TIP 1: if posting/reading through Usenet, please send an appropriate subscribe-nomail command to [EMAIL PROTECTED] so that your message can get through to the mailing list cleanly