[TAP] PROPOSAL: case sensitivity

[Patrick Dowler]

It has been pretty silent for the last week, so here is my 2c:

On 2009-03-06 11:27:18 Patrick Dowler wrote:
> * summary of where we are with respect to case of catalog, schema, table,
> and column names:
>
> - the current draft doesn't really commit, but says clients should preserve
> the case of these names (as found in the metadata); I don't see any reason
> this won't work, but it is a rule/complexity for clients

I think we could recommend this as a reasonable practice (for clients) that is 
easy to follow and will likely reduce problems in the real world

> - ADQL specifies that these names are not case sensitive; some RDBMS
> implementations are case sensitive
>
> - TAP could be used with other query languages with different rules w.r.t.
> case

I think we have to allow the query language specify this behaviour. Anything 
else will just lead to confusion when the ADQL spec says one thing and the 
TAP spec says another. 

PROPOSAL: modify the current draft to defer to the language spec on case 
sensitivity


On 2009-03-06 11:27:20 Patrick Dowler wrote:
> * summary of where we are with respect to case sensitive (or not)
> evaluation of comparisons with character data in columns:
>
> - ADQL (SQL) is clearly case sensitive with respect to comparison operators

> - TAP could be used with other query languages with different rules w.r.t.
> case sensitivity of comparison operators

This one seems more clear since all use cases can still be accomplished and it 
is up to the query writer to do so. 

* PROPOSAL: As above, we defer to the language spec

-- 

Patrick Dowler
Tel/Tél: (250) 363-0044
Canadian Astronomy Data Centre
National Research Council Canada
5071 West Saanich Road
Victoria, BC V9E 2M7

Centre canadien de donnees astronomiques
Conseil national de recherches Canada
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Victoria (C.-B.) V9E 2M7