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Re: what are java specsification? what are reference implementation?

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On 09.08.2014 03:37, Roedy Green wrote:

> The idea was people without budget could use a free implementation,
> and if the project were a roaring success, they could relatively
> easily migrate to a more gold plated implementation.
>
> SQL is the granddaddy of this sort of thinking. The problem is the
> spec is so loose, it is a major task to migrate to a different
> engine..  They don't even use identical syntax for identical
> functions, and there is no guarantee even basic functionality has to
> be supported.
>
> It is time a new tighter spec.

I don't think the spec is to blame.  The issue is that implementations 
were around before the different versions of the spec and vendors chose 
compatibility to their older versions over compatibility to a recent 
standard of SQL.  In some cases there is no way to provide both - 
standard and custom syntax at the same time (e.g. Oracle's data type 
DATE which is really a timestamp while in the standard it is really a 
date only).

So, as always, having a good specification is one thing - the adherence 
of implementations to the spec is another.  With commercial vendors 
there is usually a tendency to provide features that break or at least 
extend a standard to allow for vendor lock in.  As you can see, in case 
of Oracle databases that works pretty well.  Of course, users of those 
products would prefer more independence but they seem to have enough 
advantages of using a proprietary product to continue to do so.

Cheers

	robert

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Thread

what are java specsification? what are reference implementation? www <xsli2@yahoo.com> - 2014-08-08 07:46 -0700
  Re: what are java specsification? what are reference implementation? Josip Almasi <joe@vrspace.org> - 2014-08-08 17:28 +0200
    Re: what are java specsification? what are reference implementation? Jeff Higgins <jeff@invalid.invalid> - 2014-08-09 04:24 -0400
      Re: what are java specsification? what are reference implementation? Josip Almasi <joe@vrspace.org> - 2014-08-10 13:26 +0200
  Re: what are java specsification? what are reference implementation? Jeff Higgins <jeff@invalid.invalid> - 2014-08-08 15:55 -0400
  Re: what are java specsification? what are reference implementation? Roedy Green <see_website@mindprod.com.invalid> - 2014-08-08 18:37 -0700
    Re: what are java specsification? what are reference implementation? Robert Klemme <shortcutter@googlemail.com> - 2014-08-09 12:29 +0200
      Re: what are java specsification? what are reference implementation? Roedy Green <see_website@mindprod.com.invalid> - 2014-08-12 03:04 -0700
        Re: what are java specsification? what are reference implementation? Robert Klemme <shortcutter@googlemail.com> - 2014-08-18 08:08 -0700
          Re: what are java specification? what are reference implementation? Roedy Green <see_website@mindprod.com.invalid> - 2014-08-18 23:28 -0700
          Re: what are java specsification? what are reference implementation? Arne Vajhøj <arne@vajhoej.dk> - 2014-08-19 11:17 -0400
            Re: what are java specsification? what are reference implementation? "Chris Uppal" <chris.uppal@metagnostic.REMOVE-THIS.org> - 2014-08-19 17:42 +0100
            Re: what are java specsification? what are reference implementation? Joshua Cranmer 🐧 <Pidgeot18@verizon.invalid> - 2014-08-19 23:08 -0500
  Re: what are java specsification? what are reference implementation? "Chris Uppal" <chris.uppal@metagnostic.REMOVE-THIS.org> - 2014-08-09 11:17 +0100

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