Dumb Code Gallery

Quote:

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Originally posted by Mr.Hanky
Kerry must have coded that SQL!!!

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On the grounds that Bush wouldn't know which way up to hold the manual?

Quote:

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Originally posted by DaPi
On the grounds that Bush wouldn't know which way up to hold the manual?

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On the grounds that he couldn't spell SQL

Anyway ... dumb SQL. I sent some code to a collegue and he wasn't sure if it was working.

However, he modified it so that it "did work". Here's a paraphrasing of the code that he says works ...

Code:

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Select Max(col3)
From  my_table1,
      my_table2
Where  'MY_TABLE1.COL1' = 'MY_TABLE2.COL1'
And    'MY_TABLE1.COL2' = 'MY_TABLE2.COL2'

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Can anyonme spot where he's going wrong? :rolleyes:

Which table does Max(col3) belong to? Unless it only exists in one of the tables it will cause an error. That's a very odd query though.

Quote:

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Originally posted by gandolf989
Which table does Max(col3) belong to? Unless it only exists in one of the tables it will cause an error. That's a very odd query though.

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Actually, it's the way that the column names in the predicates are wrapped in single-quotes (thus turning them into string literals) that is the problem. Effectively he has written ...

Code:

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Select Max(col3)
From  my_table1,
      my_table2
Where  'A' = 'B'
And    'X' = 'Y'

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Quote:

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Originally posted by slimdave

Code:

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Where  'MY_TABLE1.COL1' = 'MY_TABLE2.COL1'
And    'MY_TABLE1.COL2' = 'MY_TABLE2.COL2'

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Can anyonme spot where he's going wrong? :rolleyes:

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Hmm ... and I assume the code have perfect indentation and neat and clean.

Here's what I saw ... I just replaced the table names and column names.

Code:

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SELECT emp_name
FROM emp
WHERE id = some_vbl

IF SQL%ROWCOUNT > 1 THEN
  generate_some_error ... ;
END IF ;

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Perfect error trap !

Quote:

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Originally posted by slimdave
Actually, it's the way that the column names in the predicates are wrapped in single-quotes (thus turning them into string literals) that is the problem. Effectively he has written ...

Code:

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Select Max(col3)
From  my_table1,
      my_table2
Where  'A' = 'B'
And    'X' = 'Y'

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Well it compiles doesn't it? :rolleyes: I should have seen that. :confused:

Here's the explanation from my collegue on his thought process ...

Quote:

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I see, I get in a mode that simply says "what are the different ways this can be done" a-z than I start down the path trying things....

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Verrrry encouraging.

I see. I know this is bad. But what are the different ways of shooting ?

Quote:

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Originally posted by slimdave
Here's the explanation from my collegue on his thought process ...

Verrrry encouraging.

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Perhaps he should move "read book about sql" to the top of his list of trying things. :rolleyes: