Re: [DOCS] Version information in docs
For comparison, the MySQL docs seem to stay monolithic, at least online. As in, they don't provide a different version of the manual for 3.23, 4.0, 4.1, 5.0, etc. They have a single manual that seems to be pretty thorough about the version in which various features came online. I haven't concluded which style of documentation is more intuitive, but when I've had to use MySQL, it has been nice to be able to go to one document and look to see whether something has been implemented and also when it was implemented. I suppose the same thing could be achieved if the manual itself were versioned rather than individual features being versioned, but you do have to look through various versions of the manual if you're tracking features in PostgreSQL. If you were dealing with multiple versions, it could become tedious. I've dealt with many different versions of MySQL, and it is definitely handy to have a history in single pages for features. Granted, the feature set and SQL compatibility for MySQL have been much more volatile than for PostgreSQL in the past few years, so maybe it's more striking and necessary for them. -tfo -- Thomas F. O'Connell Co-Founder, Information Architect Sitening, LLC Strategic Open Source — Open Your i™ http://www.sitening.com/ 110 30th Avenue North, Suite 6 Nashville, TN 37203-6320 615-260-0005 On Mar 27, 2005, at 7:54 PM, Tom Lane wrote: "Jim C. Nasby" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: ISTM it would be very useful if the docs specified what version a feature that would break in older versions was implemented in. The example that comes to mind is argument names in CREATE FUNCTION, which was added in 8.0. The 8.0 docs (http://lnk.nu/postgresql.org/1y3.html) mention the ability to name arguments, but it doesn't mention that the feature was added in 8.0 and can not be used in prior versions. Anyone who's trying to write code that will run on multiple versions of PostgreSQL would want to know this. The release notes cover that; or you can compare the docs for the oldest and newest versions you want to work with. I think it would be more confusing than helpful for the reference pages to try to cover all the changes from version to version. regards, tom lane ---(end of broadcast)--- TIP 1: subscribe and unsubscribe commands go to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: [DOCS] Missing doc on expression format for ALTER TABLE
On Sun, Mar 27, 2005 at 09:50:47PM -0800, Josh Berkus wrote: > Guys, > > > > Well, yes, actually. Where in the documentation is a type > > > conversion expression defined? Do we use NEW and OLD? Or the > > > name of the column? Or something else? > > > > I think the ALTER TABLE page is in dire need of a "See also" > > section, at least. And a reference to where is > > defined would be nice to have. > > What I'm pointing out here is that the USING clause can't be just > ANY expression, it needs to be a specific type of expression. And > the docs don't explain what kind of expression is usable here. > Even a single example would go a long way ... I sent a patch in awhile ago that added this: "To change an integer column containing UNIX timestamps to timestamp with time zone via a USING clause: ALTER TABLE foo ALTER COLUMN foo_timestamp TYPE timestamp with time zone USING timestamp with time zone 'epoch' + foo_timestamp * interval '1 second'; " That is at least something, although I agree that more examples of the exact kind of expression would be a very good thing. Cheers, D -- David Fetter [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://fetter.org/ phone: +1 510 893 6100 mobile: +1 415 235 3778 Remember to vote! ---(end of broadcast)--- TIP 6: Have you searched our list archives? http://archives.postgresql.org
Re: [DOCS] Version information in docs
Something else that comes to mind... going back to older versions of the manual wouldn't be nearly as tedeous if there were links to older versions somewhere on the pages. Maybe at every section header? -- Jim C. Nasby, Database Consultant [EMAIL PROTECTED] Give your computer some brain candy! www.distributed.net Team #1828 Windows: "Where do you want to go today?" Linux: "Where do you want to go tomorrow?" FreeBSD: "Are you guys coming, or what?" ---(end of broadcast)--- TIP 8: explain analyze is your friend
Re: [DOCS] Version information in docs
Jim C. Nasby wrote: > Something else that comes to mind... going back to older versions of the > manual wouldn't be nearly as tedeous if there were links to older > versions somewhere on the pages. Maybe at every section header? The good thing about our current setup is that all changes are centralized in the release notes. -- Bruce Momjian| http://candle.pha.pa.us [email protected] | (610) 359-1001 + If your life is a hard drive, | 13 Roberts Road + Christ can be your backup.| Newtown Square, Pennsylvania 19073 ---(end of broadcast)--- TIP 5: Have you checked our extensive FAQ? http://www.postgresql.org/docs/faq
