* [Tarantool-discussions] The result type and argument types of the built-in SQL functions.
@ 2020-07-27 12:24 Mergen Imeev
2020-07-27 19:39 ` Peter Gulutzan
2020-07-29 8:54 ` Timur Safin
0 siblings, 2 replies; 8+ messages in thread
From: Mergen Imeev @ 2020-07-27 12:24 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: pgulutzan, korablev, v.shpilevoy, tsafin, sergos, tarantool-discussions
Hi, Peter!
I would like to ask you a few questions about the result type and argument
types of the SQL built-in functions.
I suggest changing the result types of some functions. A table with the current
result type and the suggested result type is below.
FUNCTION NAME CURRENT SUGGESTED
abs number number
avg number double
char string string
character_length integer unsigned
char_length integer unsigned
coalesce scalar scalar
count integer unsigned
greatest scalar scalar
group_concat string string
hex string string
ifnull integer scalar
least scalar scalar
length integer unsigned
like integer boolean
likelihood boolean scalar
likely boolean scalar
lower string string
max scalar scalar
min scalar scalar
nullif scalar scalar
position integer unsigned
printf string string
quote string string
random integer integer
randomblob varbinary varbinary
replace string string
round integer number
row_count integer unsigned
soundex string string
substr string string
sum number number
total number double
trim string string
typeof string string
unicode string unsigned
unlikely boolean scalar
upper string string
version string string
zeroblob varbinary varbinary
The second question is about the types of arguments to built-in functions.
I suggest this:
FUNCTION NAME TYPES OF ARGUMENTS
abs number
avg number
char* unsigned
character_length string
char_length string
coalesce scalar
count scalar
greatest scalar
group_concat scalar, scalar
hex scalar
ifnull scalar, scalar
least* scalar
length string
like string, string, string
likelihood scalar, double
likely scalar
lower string
max scalar
min scalar
nullif scalar, scalar
position string, string
printf* scalar
quote scalar
randomblob unsigned
replace string, string, string
round double, unsigned
soundex string
substr string, integer, integer
sum number
total number
trim* string
typeof scalar
unicode string
unlikely scalar
upper string
zeroblob unsigned
* - all arguments must be of this type.
Also, we have to decide on BLOB instead of STRING. Last time you wrote that we
should allow BLOB instead of STRING, but I think it will be rather inconvenient,
because in this case we have to write SCALAR instead of STRING in function
definition and check the type of the argument inside the function. Because of
this, it will be a little incompatible with the definition of a function that
will be placed in the '_func' system space. I mean, the definition will state
that it accepts SCALAR, but in reality it will only accept STRING and BLOB.
So, I think we should disallow BLOB instead of STRING, or decide in which
functions we allow BLOB instead of STRING.
And one more question. I think we are going to add MAP and ARRAY types in SQL in
the near future, so it might be a good idea to write ANY instead of SCALAR for
some of these functions. What do you think about this?
^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 8+ messages in thread
* Re: [Tarantool-discussions] The result type and argument types of the built-in SQL functions.
2020-07-27 12:24 [Tarantool-discussions] The result type and argument types of the built-in SQL functions Mergen Imeev
@ 2020-07-27 19:39 ` Peter Gulutzan
2020-07-28 11:28 ` Mergen Imeev
2020-07-29 8:50 ` Timur Safin
2020-07-29 8:54 ` Timur Safin
1 sibling, 2 replies; 8+ messages in thread
From: Peter Gulutzan @ 2020-07-27 19:39 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: Mergen Imeev, korablev, v.shpilevoy, tsafin, sergos,
tarantool-discussions
Hi,
On 2020-07-27 6:24 a.m., Mergen Imeev wrote:
> Hi, Peter!
>
> I would like to ask you a few questions about the result type and
argument
> types of the SQL built-in functions.
>
> I suggest changing the result types of some functions. A table with
the current
> result type and the suggested result type is below.
>
> FUNCTION NAME CURRENT SUGGESTED
> abs number number
> avg number double
> char string string
> character_length integer unsigned
> char_length integer unsigned
> coalesce scalar scalar
> count integer unsigned
> greatest scalar scalar
> group_concat string string
> hex string string
> ifnull integer scalar
> least scalar scalar
> length integer unsigned
> like integer boolean
> likelihood boolean scalar
> likely boolean scalar
> lower string string
> max scalar scalar
> min scalar scalar
> nullif scalar scalar
> position integer unsigned
> printf string string
> quote string string
> random integer integer
> randomblob varbinary varbinary
> replace string string
> round integer number
> row_count integer unsigned
> soundex string string
> substr string string
> sum number number
> total number double
> trim string string
> typeof string string
> unicode string unsigned
> unlikely boolean scalar
> upper string string
> version string string
> zeroblob varbinary varbinary
>
>
> The second question is about the types of arguments to built-in
functions.
>
> I suggest this:
>
> FUNCTION NAME TYPES OF ARGUMENTS
> abs number
> avg number
> char* unsigned
> character_length string
> char_length string
> coalesce scalar
> count scalar
> greatest scalar
> group_concat scalar, scalar
> hex scalar
> ifnull scalar, scalar
> least* scalar
> length string
> like string, string, string
> likelihood scalar, double
> likely scalar
> lower string
> max scalar
> min scalar
> nullif scalar, scalar
> position string, string
> printf* scalar
> quote scalar
> randomblob unsigned
> replace string, string, string
> round double, unsigned
> soundex string
> substr string, integer, integer
> sum number
> total number
> trim* string
> typeof scalar
> unicode string
> unlikely scalar
> upper string
> zeroblob unsigned
>
> * - all arguments must be of this type.
>
>
> Also, we have to decide on BLOB instead of STRING. Last time you
wrote that we
> should allow BLOB instead of STRING, but I think it will be rather
inconvenient,
> because in this case we have to write SCALAR instead of STRING in
function
> definition and check the type of the argument inside the function.
Because of
> this, it will be a little incompatible with the definition of a
function that
> will be placed in the '_func' system space. I mean, the definition
will state
> that it accepts SCALAR, but in reality it will only accept STRING and
BLOB.
>
> So, I think we should disallow BLOB instead of STRING, or decide in which
> functions we allow BLOB instead of STRING.
>
>
> And one more question. I think we are going to add MAP and ARRAY
types in SQL in
> the near future, so it might be a good idea to write ANY instead of
SCALAR for
> some of these functions. What do you think about this?
>
Re your table of "current" result data types. I think we must define
"current".
In version 2.4, SELECT TYPEOF(LENGTH('')); returns 'integer'.
In version 2.6, SELECT TYPEOF(LENGTH('')); returns 'unsigned'.
In other words, somebody has already made changes, for tarantool-master.
However, I did not document that the return will be 'integer' so this is
a "change in behaviour" but not a "change in documented behaviour".
And I think we must define 'result type'.
You write that GREATEST etc. return 'scalar'.
But of course SELECT TYPEOF(GREATEST(1,'a')); returns 'string'.
So I assume you do not mean that the result value has the Tarantool 'scalar'
type, you only mean that the result value will be anything that
Tarantool/SQL currently supports.
Re returning UNSIGNED instead of INTEGER for ...LENGTH(), ROW_COUNT(), etc.
(a) This data type is not standard and is not built-in for most major DBMSs.
Even in MySQL
https://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/8.0/en/numeric-type-syntax.html
UNSIGNED is an attribute of a data type, as in BIGINT UNSIGNED, not a
data type.
(b) The maximum INTEGER value is the same as the maximum UNSIGNED value,
18446744073709551615, so the change is not necessary.
(c) Although in Tarantool it is not likely, there are generic programs
that might
be checking whether the result of a function is negative. For example,
in ODBC
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/odbc/reference/syntax/sqlrowcount-function?v,
a result of an equivalent of our ROW_COUNT() function can be -1.
... Therefore I am not enthusiastic about this change.
Re returning NUMBER from ROUND():
You say that the current return is 'integer', but when I try it,
I get 'double'. I think this current behaviour is acceptable.
However, if ROUND(1) returns INTEGER, that is good too --
the general idea, not a law, would be
"if the result data type can be the same as the input data type(s),
let it be the same".
Re types of arguments:
You suggest that TRIM() etc. must have 'string' arguments,
but currently they can be 'varbinary' and I don't see why that is bad.
You suggest that CHAR() must have 'unsigned' argument,
but currently it can be some other type, and well, *maybe* that is bad.
I don't object to strictness, but worry that I might have to document
"sometimes we do an implicit cast, some other times we are strict".
Re BLOB instead of string. This is related to the fact that
TRIM() etc. currently do not need to have 'string' arguments,
they can have 'varbinary' arguments. I admit that many (maybe
most) other vendors expect character strings in such cases.
But the standard suggests that something very similar is allowed,
the DB2 manual says it is allowed,
the MariaDB manual is not explicit but here I show it is allowed:
"
mariadb>SELECT HEX(TRIM(X'D0' FROM CAST('Д' AS BINARY)));
OK 1 rows affected (0.0 seconds)
+--------------------------------------------+
| HEX(TRIM(X'D0' FROM CAST('Д' AS BINARY))) |
+--------------------------------------------+
| 94 |
+--------------------------------------------+
"
I believe that Tarantool should continue to allow varbinary arguments.
Re MAP and ARRAY types "in the near future":
I think we must define "near future".
Currently in SQL we do not even have the Lua DECIMAL or UUID data types.
Kirill Yukhin made the issue Implement DECIMAL data type #4415
on August 8 2019, saying
"After DECIMAL type was introduced to the core, its time to implement
this type in SQL frontend."
We are nearly at August 8 2020, so apparently it takes more than one
year to put
a data type in SQL even though it is already in the core.
(
So I think that maps and arrays, which I think are more difficult,
will not exist in SQL for two years. I am not worried.
However, it is interesting to imagine
UPPER(array of strings) -- should we return upper of all elements?
UPPER(map) -- should we return upper of both the key and the value?
and so on.
I believe Lua non-scalar values should be flattened in SQL,
so perhaps the questions can all be avoided.
Peter Gulutzan
^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 8+ messages in thread
* Re: [Tarantool-discussions] The result type and argument types of the built-in SQL functions.
2020-07-27 19:39 ` Peter Gulutzan
@ 2020-07-28 11:28 ` Mergen Imeev
2020-07-29 16:47 ` Peter Gulutzan
2020-07-29 8:50 ` Timur Safin
1 sibling, 1 reply; 8+ messages in thread
From: Mergen Imeev @ 2020-07-28 11:28 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: Peter Gulutzan; +Cc: tarantool-discussions
Hi!
On Mon, Jul 27, 2020 at 01:39:29PM -0600, Peter Gulutzan wrote:
> Hi,
>
>
> On 2020-07-27 6:24 a.m., Mergen Imeev wrote:
<cut>
> >
>
> Re your table of "current" result data types. I think we must define
> "current".
> In version 2.4, SELECT TYPEOF(LENGTH('')); returns 'integer'.
When I say function result type, I mean this:
tarantool> SELECT LENGTH('');
---
- metadata:
- name: COLUMN_1
type: integer
rows:
- [0]
...
As you can see, it says that the result type of the LENGTH() function is
INTEGER. However, as you said, the type of the value we got is actually
UNSIGNED. I will fix this after we come to an agreement.
> In version 2.6, SELECT TYPEOF(LENGTH('')); returns 'unsigned'.
> In other words, somebody has already made changes, for tarantool-master.
> However, I did not document that the return will be 'integer' so this is
> a "change in behaviour" but not a "change in documented behaviour".
>
> And I think we must define 'result type'.
> You write that GREATEST etc. return 'scalar'.
> But of course SELECT TYPEOF(GREATEST(1,'a')); returns 'string'.
> So I assume you do not mean that the result value has the Tarantool 'scalar'
> type, you only mean that the result value will be anything that
> Tarantool/SQL currently supports.
I agree that this is true for the value that was received. However, result type
functions are more like column types:
tarantool> SELECT GREATEST(1,'a');
---
- metadata:
- name: COLUMN_1
type: scalar
rows:
- ['a']
...
>
> Re returning UNSIGNED instead of INTEGER for ...LENGTH(), ROW_COUNT(), etc.
> (a) This data type is not standard and is not built-in for most major DBMSs.
> Even in MySQL
> https://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/8.0/en/numeric-type-syntax.html
> UNSIGNED is an attribute of a data type, as in BIGINT UNSIGNED, not a data
> type.
> (b) The maximum INTEGER value is the same as the maximum UNSIGNED value,
> 18446744073709551615, so the change is not necessary.
> (c) Although in Tarantool it is not likely, there are generic programs that
> might
> be checking whether the result of a function is negative. For example, in
> ODBC
> https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/odbc/reference/syntax/sqlrowcount-function?v,
> a result of an equivalent of our ROW_COUNT() function can be -1.
> ... Therefore I am not enthusiastic about this change.
I have no objection here.
>
> Re returning NUMBER from ROUND():
> You say that the current return is 'integer', but when I try it,
> I get 'double'. I think this current behaviour is acceptable.
I talked about this:
tarantool> SELECT ROUND(1.2345, 2);
---
- metadata:
- name: COLUMN_1
type: integer
rows:
- [1.23]
...
As you can see, the result is not INTEGER, even if it is written that it is
INTEGER.
> However, if ROUND(1) returns INTEGER, that is good too --
> the general idea, not a law, would be
> "if the result data type can be the same as the input data type(s),
> let it be the same".
I believe ROUND (a) and ROUND (a, 0) should return INTEGER. I still think that
we should consider NUMBER as the return type of a function. However, this does
not mean that the type of the values we get as a result will be NUMBER. It will
be either INTEGER or DOUBLE.
Also, I have an important question: why don't we treat NUMBER the same way we
treat SCALAR? Before adding the DOUBLE type, it was possible to say that NUMBER
contains INTEGER and real values. So it was in the same position as INTEGER and
UNSIGNED right now. However, after adding DOUBLE, all numeric values can be
either INTEGER or DOUBLE, so we don't need NUMBER values. I suggest that we
allow NUMBER to be the column type, but there should be no NUMBER values. What
do you think about this?
>
> Re types of arguments:
> You suggest that TRIM() etc. must have 'string' arguments,
> but currently they can be 'varbinary' and I don't see why that is bad.
> You suggest that CHAR() must have 'unsigned' argument,
> but currently it can be some other type, and well, *maybe* that is bad.
> I don't object to strictness, but worry that I might have to document
> "sometimes we do an implicit cast, some other times we are strict".
I believe the values given as arguments should follow the "IMPLICIT CAST FOR
ASSIGNMENT" rules. I plan to use the same mechanism, so I don't see any problems
here. For exapmle, ROUND(1.234, 2.5) will work the same as ROUND(1.234, 2).
>
> Re BLOB instead of string. This is related to the fact that
> TRIM() etc. currently do not need to have 'string' arguments,
> they can have 'varbinary' arguments. I admit that many (maybe
> most) other vendors expect character strings in such cases.
> But the standard suggests that something very similar is allowed,
> the DB2 manual says it is allowed,
> the MariaDB manual is not explicit but here I show it is allowed:
> "
> mariadb>SELECT HEX(TRIM(X'D0' FROM CAST('Д' AS BINARY)));
> OK 1 rows affected (0.0 seconds)
> +--------------------------------------------+
> | HEX(TRIM(X'D0' FROM CAST('Д' AS BINARY))) |
> +--------------------------------------------+
> | 94 |
> +--------------------------------------------+
> "
> I believe that Tarantool should continue to allow varbinary arguments.
So you mean that all functions that can accept STRING must accept VARBINARY?
Do you think we should be thinking about a new type that should contain STRING
and VARBINARY the same way NUMBER contains INTEGER and DOUBLE? If you agree with
this, can you suggest a name for the new type?
>
> Re MAP and ARRAY types "in the near future":
> I think we must define "near future".
> Currently in SQL we do not even have the Lua DECIMAL or UUID data types.
> Kirill Yukhin made the issue Implement DECIMAL data type #4415
> on August 8 2019, saying
> "After DECIMAL type was introduced to the core, its time to implement this
> type in SQL frontend."
> We are nearly at August 8 2020, so apparently it takes more than one year to
> put
> a data type in SQL even though it is already in the core.
> (
> So I think that maps and arrays, which I think are more difficult,
> will not exist in SQL for two years. I am not worried.
It is actually in plans for the next release, however I won't argue with you
here.
> However, it is interesting to imagine
> UPPER(array of strings) -- should we return upper of all elements?
> UPPER(map) -- should we return upper of both the key and the value?
> and so on.
I didn't even thought about these cases. I mean, if function should accept
STRING and we will give her an ARRAY, that it should throw an error. After all
ARRAY is not STRING.
> I believe Lua non-scalar values should be flattened in SQL,
> so perhaps the questions can all be avoided.
>
> Peter Gulutzan
>
Could you take another look at the tables?
Also, here's what the function definition would look like after my patches:
tarantool> box.execute([[select "name", "param_list", "returns", "aggregate" from "_func" where "language" = 'SQL_BUILTIN' order by "name" LIMIT 10;]])
---
- metadata:
- name: name
type: string
- name: param_list
type: array
- name: returns
type: string
- name: aggregate
type: string
rows:
- ['ABS', ['number'], 'number', 'none']
- ['AVG', ['number'], 'number', 'group']
- ['CEIL', [], 'any', 'none']
- ['CEILING', [], 'any', 'none']
- ['CHAR', ['unsigned'], 'string', 'none']
- ['CHARACTER_LENGTH', ['scalar'], 'integer', 'none']
- ['CHAR_LENGTH', ['scalar'], 'integer', 'none']
- ['COALESCE', ['scalar'], 'scalar', 'none']
- ['COUNT', ['scalar'], 'integer', 'group']
- ['CURRENT_DATE', [], 'any', 'none']
...
I used SCALAR instead of STRING, so we may use VARBINARY instead of STRING.
Below is an updated table of function result types. Remember that this is not
always the type of the value that we get from the function. However, all values
that we receive as a result of executing the function must be of the specified
type.
FUNCTION NAME CURRENT SUGGESTED
abs number number
avg number double
char string string
character_length integer integer
char_length integer integer
coalesce scalar scalar
count integer integer
greatest scalar scalar
group_concat string string
hex string string
ifnull integer scalar
least scalar scalar
length integer integer
like integer boolean
likelihood boolean scalar
likely boolean scalar
lower string string
max scalar scalar
min scalar scalar
nullif scalar scalar
position integer integer
printf string string
quote string string
random integer integer
randomblob varbinary varbinary
replace string string
round integer number
row_count integer integer
soundex string string
substr string string
sum number number
total number double
trim string string
typeof string string
unicode string integer
unlikely boolean scalar
upper string string
version string string
zeroblob varbinary varbinary
Below is an updated table of function argument types. Note that the IMPLICIT
CAST FOR ASSIGNMENT rules will be applied before values are passed to the
function as arguments. This means that if the function takes STRING and we give
it an INTEGER value, we will get an error even before we call the function.
FUNCTION NAME TYPES OF ARGUMENTS
abs number
avg number
char* unsigned
character_length scalar
char_length scalar
coalesce scalar
count scalar
greatest scalar
group_concat scalar, scalar
hex scalar
ifnull scalar, scalar
least* scalar
length scalar
like scalar, scalar, scalar
likelihood scalar, double
likely scalar
lower scalar
max scalar
min scalar
nullif scalar, scalar
position scalar, scalar
printf* scalar
quote scalar
randomblob unsigned
replace scalar, scalar, scalar
round double, unsigned
soundex scalar
substr scalar, integer, integer
sum number
total number
trim* scalar
typeof scalar
unicode scalar
unlikely scalar
upper scalar
zeroblob unsigned
I still believe that not all functions that accept STRING have to to accept
VARBINARY. But that's up to you.
^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 8+ messages in thread
* Re: [Tarantool-discussions] The result type and argument types of the built-in SQL functions.
2020-07-27 19:39 ` Peter Gulutzan
2020-07-28 11:28 ` Mergen Imeev
@ 2020-07-29 8:50 ` Timur Safin
2020-07-29 17:25 ` Peter Gulutzan
1 sibling, 1 reply; 8+ messages in thread
From: Timur Safin @ 2020-07-29 8:50 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: 'Peter Gulutzan', 'Mergen Imeev',
korablev, v.shpilevoy, sergos, tarantool-discussions
: From: Peter Gulutzan <pgulutzan@ocelot.ca>
: Subject: Re: The result type and argument types of the built-in SQL
: functions.
:
...
: Re returning UNSIGNED instead of INTEGER for ...LENGTH(), ROW_COUNT(),
: etc.
: (a) This data type is not standard and is not built-in for most major
: DBMSs.
: Even in MySQL
: https://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/8.0/en/numeric-type-syntax.html
: UNSIGNED is an attribute of a data type, as in BIGINT UNSIGNED, not a
: data type.
: (b) The maximum INTEGER value is the same as the maximum UNSIGNED value,
: 18446744073709551615, so the change is not necessary.
Agreed that UNSIGNED is unnecessary and should be covered by INTEGER type.
:
: Re returning NUMBER from ROUND():
: You say that the current return is 'integer', but when I try it,
: I get 'double'. I think this current behaviour is acceptable.
: However, if ROUND(1) returns INTEGER, that is good too --
: the general idea, not a law, would be
: "if the result data type can be the same as the input data type(s),
: let it be the same".
I'd vote for NUMBER in the places where we need either integer or double.
NUMBER looks more Lua-ish (and we do want to have consistent behavior
between Lua and SQL as much as possible), i.e. if you have double value
which happens to be fraction-less then it will be normalized and
look as integer.
:
: Re types of arguments:
: You suggest that TRIM() etc. must have 'string' arguments,
: but currently they can be 'varbinary' and I don't see why that is bad.
Yup, this is part of blob vs string question.
: Re BLOB instead of string. This is related to the fact that
: TRIM() etc. currently do not need to have 'string' arguments,
: they can have 'varbinary' arguments. I admit that many (maybe
: most) other vendors expect character strings in such cases.
I do agree that that there are no single place where string
should be behave anyhow different than varbinary. Blob is string,
guid is string, thus in any case where string is acceptable should
be others acceptable.
:
: Re MAP and ARRAY types "in the near future":
: I think we must define "near future".
: Currently in SQL we do not even have the Lua DECIMAL or UUID data types.
: Kirill Yukhin made the issue Implement DECIMAL data type #4415
: on August 8 2019, saying
: "After DECIMAL type was introduced to the core, its time to implement
: this type in SQL frontend."
: We are nearly at August 8 2020, so apparently it takes more than one
: year to put
: a data type in SQL even though it is already in the core.
But should we do anything here - if it's blob with underlying string
storage? Is it anyhow different to varbinary?
: (
: So I think that maps and arrays, which I think are more difficult,
: will not exist in SQL for two years. I am not worried.
I feel your pain, but (hope) your estimations here are a little bit
too conservative :)
: However, it is interesting to imagine
: UPPER(array of strings) -- should we return upper of all elements?
: UPPER(map) -- should we return upper of both the key and the value?
: and so on.
: I believe Lua non-scalar values should be flattened in SQL,
: so perhaps the questions can all be avoided.
:
: Peter Gulutzan
I believe Lua non-scalar should be incompatible with scalar context and
should generate runtime errors. But it's too early to discuss this though.
Timur
^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 8+ messages in thread
* Re: [Tarantool-discussions] The result type and argument types of the built-in SQL functions.
2020-07-27 12:24 [Tarantool-discussions] The result type and argument types of the built-in SQL functions Mergen Imeev
2020-07-27 19:39 ` Peter Gulutzan
@ 2020-07-29 8:54 ` Timur Safin
2020-07-29 9:34 ` Mergen Imeev
1 sibling, 1 reply; 8+ messages in thread
From: Timur Safin @ 2020-07-29 8:54 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: 'Mergen Imeev',
pgulutzan, korablev, v.shpilevoy, sergos, tarantool-discussions
I general, I agree that UNSIGNED is unnecessary, but the rest of table
is pretty much ok with me. (Though blob vs string discussion opened elsewhere
is important)
With one small note below...
: From: Mergen Imeev <imeevma@tarantool.org>
: Subject: The result type and argument types of the built-in SQL functions.
:
: Hi, Peter!
:
: I would like to ask you a few questions about the result type and argument
: types of the SQL built-in functions.
:
: I suggest changing the result types of some functions. A table with the
: current
: result type and the suggested result type is below.
:
: FUNCTION NAME CURRENT SUGGESTED
: abs number number
: avg number double
: char string string
: character_length integer unsigned
...
: soundex string string
: substr string string
: sum number number
: total number double
Why total should be different than sum? (I'd use the same number)
Regards,
Timur
^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 8+ messages in thread
* Re: [Tarantool-discussions] The result type and argument types of the built-in SQL functions.
2020-07-29 8:54 ` Timur Safin
@ 2020-07-29 9:34 ` Mergen Imeev
0 siblings, 0 replies; 8+ messages in thread
From: Mergen Imeev @ 2020-07-29 9:34 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: Timur Safin; +Cc: tarantool-discussions
On Wed, Jul 29, 2020 at 11:54:12AM +0300, Timur Safin wrote:
>
> I general, I agree that UNSIGNED is unnecessary, but the rest of table
> is pretty much ok with me. (Though blob vs string discussion opened elsewhere
> is important)
>
> With one small note below...
>
> : From: Mergen Imeev <imeevma@tarantool.org>
> : Subject: The result type and argument types of the built-in SQL functions.
> :
> : Hi, Peter!
> :
> : I would like to ask you a few questions about the result type and argument
> : types of the SQL built-in functions.
> :
> : I suggest changing the result types of some functions. A table with the
> : current
> : result type and the suggested result type is below.
> :
> : FUNCTION NAME CURRENT SUGGESTED
> : abs number number
> : avg number double
> : char string string
> : character_length integer unsigned
> ...
> : soundex string string
> : substr string string
> : sum number number
> : total number double
>
> Why total should be different than sum? (I'd use the same number)
>
In SQLite TOTAL always returns DOUBLE. SUM may return INTEGER if all values
are of INTEGER type.
>
> Regards,
> Timur
>
^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 8+ messages in thread
* Re: [Tarantool-discussions] The result type and argument types of the built-in SQL functions.
2020-07-28 11:28 ` Mergen Imeev
@ 2020-07-29 16:47 ` Peter Gulutzan
0 siblings, 0 replies; 8+ messages in thread
From: Peter Gulutzan @ 2020-07-29 16:47 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: Mergen Imeev; +Cc: tarantool-discussions
Hi,
I am aware that Timur Safin has already replied,
but I will answer one thing at a time.
On 2020-07-28 5:28 a.m., Mergen Imeev wrote:
> Hi!
>
> On Mon, Jul 27, 2020 at 01:39:29PM -0600, Peter Gulutzan wrote:
>> Hi,
>>
>>
>> On 2020-07-27 6:24 a.m., Mergen Imeev wrote:
> <cut>
>>>
>>
>> Re your table of "current" result data types. I think we must define
>> "current".
>> In version 2.4, SELECT TYPEOF(LENGTH('')); returns 'integer'.
> When I say function result type, I mean this:
>
> tarantool> SELECT LENGTH('');
> ---
> - metadata:
> - name: COLUMN_1
> type: integer
> rows:
> - [0]
> ...
>
> As you can see, it says that the result type of the LENGTH() function is
> INTEGER. However, as you said, the type of the value we got is actually
> UNSIGNED. I will fix this after we come to an agreement.
>
Okay, I guess you mean that the metadata type will be the same as TYPEOF,
but that might mean they both say 'integer' or that might mean that they
both say 'unsigned'. Fine for now.
>> In version 2.6, SELECT TYPEOF(LENGTH('')); returns 'unsigned'.
>> In other words, somebody has already made changes, for tarantool-master.
>> However, I did not document that the return will be 'integer' so this is
>> a "change in behaviour" but not a "change in documented behaviour".
>>
>> And I think we must define 'result type'.
>> You write that GREATEST etc. return 'scalar'.
>> But of course SELECT TYPEOF(GREATEST(1,'a')); returns 'string'.
>> So I assume you do not mean that the result value has the Tarantool
'scalar'
>> type, you only mean that the result value will be anything that
>> Tarantool/SQL currently supports.
> I agree that this is true for the value that was received. However,
result type
> functions are more like column types:
>
> tarantool> SELECT GREATEST(1,'a');
> ---
> - metadata:
> - name: COLUMN_1
> type: scalar
> rows:
> - ['a']
> ...
>
You are right that sometimes a 'metadata' type is like a column type,
that is, it must be scalar when it might contain more than one primitive
type.
However, in the case of GREATEST, I do not see that this is necessary,
there is only one value and it is a STRING.
>>
>> Re returning UNSIGNED instead of INTEGER for ...LENGTH(),
ROW_COUNT(), etc.
>> (a) This data type is not standard and is not built-in for most
major DBMSs.
>> Even in MySQL
>> https://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/8.0/en/numeric-type-syntax.html
>> UNSIGNED is an attribute of a data type, as in BIGINT UNSIGNED, not
a data
>> type.
>> (b) The maximum INTEGER value is the same as the maximum UNSIGNED value,
>> 18446744073709551615, so the change is not necessary.
>> (c) Although in Tarantool it is not likely, there are generic
programs that
>> might
>> be checking whether the result of a function is negative. For
example, in
>> ODBC
>>
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/odbc/reference/syntax/sqlrowcount-function?v,
>> a result of an equivalent of our ROW_COUNT() function can be -1.
>> ... Therefore I am not enthusiastic about this change.
> I have no objection here.
>
Does anyone else have an objection here?
If not, does that mean the returned data type will be INTEGER?
>>
>> Re returning NUMBER from ROUND():
>> You say that the current return is 'integer', but when I try it,
>> I get 'double'. I think this current behaviour is acceptable.
> I talked about this:
>
> tarantool> SELECT ROUND(1.2345, 2);
> ---
> - metadata:
> - name: COLUMN_1
> type: integer
> rows:
> - [1.23]
> ...
>
> As you can see, the result is not INTEGER, even if it is written that
it is
> INTEGER.
>
Oh. So this is a bug?
>> However, if ROUND(1) returns INTEGER, that is good too --
>> the general idea, not a law, would be
>> "if the result data type can be the same as the input data type(s),
>> let it be the same".
> I believe ROUND (a) and ROUND (a, 0) should return INTEGER. I still
think that
> we should consider NUMBER as the return type of a function. However,
this does
> not mean that the type of the values we get as a result will be
NUMBER. It will
> be either INTEGER or DOUBLE.
>
> Also, I have an important question: why don't we treat NUMBER the
same way we
> treat SCALAR? Before adding the DOUBLE type, it was possible to say
that NUMBER
> contains INTEGER and real values. So it was in the same position as
INTEGER and
> UNSIGNED right now. However, after adding DOUBLE, all numeric values
can be
> either INTEGER or DOUBLE, so we don't need NUMBER values. I suggest
that we
> allow NUMBER to be the column type, but there should be no NUMBER
values. What
> do you think about this?
>
>>
>> Re types of arguments:
>> You suggest that TRIM() etc. must have 'string' arguments,
>> but currently they can be 'varbinary' and I don't see why that is bad.
>> You suggest that CHAR() must have 'unsigned' argument,
>> but currently it can be some other type, and well, *maybe* that is bad.
>> I don't object to strictness, but worry that I might have to document
>> "sometimes we do an implicit cast, some other times we are strict".
> I believe the values given as arguments should follow the "IMPLICIT
CAST FOR
> ASSIGNMENT" rules. I plan to use the same mechanism, so I don't see
any problems
> here. For exapmle, ROUND(1.234, 2.5) will work the same as
ROUND(1.234, 2).
>
>>
>> Re BLOB instead of string. This is related to the fact that
>> TRIM() etc. currently do not need to have 'string' arguments,
>> they can have 'varbinary' arguments. I admit that many (maybe
>> most) other vendors expect character strings in such cases.
>> But the standard suggests that something very similar is allowed,
>> the DB2 manual says it is allowed,
>> the MariaDB manual is not explicit but here I show it is allowed:
>> "
>> mariadb>SELECT HEX(TRIM(X'D0' FROM CAST('Д' AS BINARY)));
>> OK 1 rows affected (0.0 seconds)
>> +--------------------------------------------+
>> | HEX(TRIM(X'D0' FROM CAST('Д' AS BINARY))) |
>> +--------------------------------------------+
>> | 94 |
>> +--------------------------------------------+
>> "
>> I believe that Tarantool should continue to allow varbinary arguments.
> So you mean that all functions that can accept STRING must accept
VARBINARY?
>
> Do you think we should be thinking about a new type that should
contain STRING
> and VARBINARY the same way NUMBER contains INTEGER and DOUBLE? If you
agree with
> this, can you suggest a name for the new type?
>
Let's look at them. Version 2.6.
SELECT HEX('A'),HEX(X'41');
It works now. It's in the manual: "may be either a string or a byte
sequence".
I do not see why it should fail.
SELECT LENGTH('Д'), LENGTH(X'D094'),CHAR_LENGTH('Д'),CHAR_LENGTH(X'D094');
It works now. It's in the manual: "Return the number of characters in
the expression, or the number of bytes in the expression.
It depends on the data type: ...".
I do not see why it should fail.
Of course, ,CHAR_LENGTH(X'D094') returns the number of bytes not the number
of characters, and I know that is odd, but it was K. Osipov's order.
SELECT LOWER('I'),LOWER(X'49');
It fails now. The manual says the required syntax is
"LOWER(string-expression)".
I suppose that, since there are no chaacters, we could say that
LOWER(X'49') = X'49'.
But I do not see that that would help any users.
The same considerations apply for SELECT UPPER('a'),UPPER(X'61');.
By the way, we are assuming that 'I' is UTF-8 with a DUCET collation, but
LOWER('I' COLLATE "binary") = 'i'. I think that makes no sense, but it is
convenient for users -- if this "bug" were fixed, then they would have to
specify a non-default collation (because "binary" is default).
Am I making sense?
SELECT POSITION('A', 'ДA'),POSITION(X'41', X'D09441');
It works now. It's in the manual: "The data types of the expressions
must be either STRING or VARBINARY. If the expressions have data type
STRING, then the result is the character position. If the expressions
have data type VARBINARY, then the result is the byte position."
I do not see why it should fail.
SELECT PRINTF('%d',5),PRINTF(X'2564',5);
It works now. The manual does not clearly say that it should work,
but says that the first argument should be a "string expression".
I doubt that any user will use VARBINARY, but ...
I do not see why it should fail.
CREATE TABLE u (s1 VARCHAR(1) PRIMARY KEY, s2 VARBINARY);
INSERT INTO u VALUES ('A',X'41');
SELECT QUOTE(s1),QUOTE(s2) FROM u;
It works now. But the result is odd:
tarantool>SELECT QUOTE(s1),QUOTE(s2) FROM u;
OK 1 rows selected (0.0 seconds)
+----------+----------+
| COLUMN_1 | COLUMN_2 |
+----------+----------+
| 'A' | X'41' |
+----------+----------+
Surely putting quote marks i.e. X'27' around X'41' should result in
VARBINARY X'274127'. I think this is a bug. But ...
I do not see why it should fail.
By the way, the manual is wrong. It says the argument should be
"string-literal". But, as the example shows, it can be a column value.
I think this is a bug too. I will put it on my little "to do" list.
SELECT REPLACE('A','A','C'),REPLACE(X'41',X'41',X'43');
It works now. It is in the manual: "The expressions should all
have data type STRING or VARBINARY."
I do not see why it should fail.
SELECT SOUNDEX('A'),SOUNDEX(X'41');
It fails now. The manual does not say that it should fail, but does
say "The algorithm works with characters in the Latin alphabet and
works best with English words."
I suppose that, since there are no chaacters, we could say that
SOUNDEX(X'41') = any junk.
But I do not see that that would help any users.
SELECT SUBSTR('ДAB',3),SUBSTR(X'D09441', 3);
It works now. It is in the manual: "If expression-1 has data type
VARBINARY rather than data type STRING, then positioning and
counting is by bytes rather than by characters."
I do not see why it should fail.
TRIM()
It works now.
Earlier I showed a result from MariaDB.
Here is a result from Tarantool for the same query.
"
tarantool>SELECT HEX(TRIM(X'D0' FROM CAST('Д' AS VARBINARY)));
OK 1 rows selected (0.0 seconds)
+----------+
| COLUMN_1 |
+----------+
| 94 |
+----------+
"
I had to say VARBINARY not BINARY, anyway, the result is the same.
It is in the manual: "The expressions should have data type STRING
or VARBINARY."
I do not see why it should fail.
UPPER()
See above re LOWER().
Summary: the current behaviour is documented and is good, except:
(1) CHAR_LENGTH(varbinary-string) and PRINTF(varbinary-string...)
works but are useless.
(2) LOWER(varbinary-string) and UPPER(varbinary-string)
don't work, but they could work, but would be useless.
Also I think they are slightly buggy but for the user's benefit.
(3) QUOTE(varbinary-string)
works but I think it is slightly buggy.
I suppose you have heard the English expression:
If it is not broken, then fix it anyway.
I understand; I work that way muself.
But I bet that you have better things to do.
>>
>> Re MAP and ARRAY types "in the near future":
>> I think we must define "near future".
>> Currently in SQL we do not even have the Lua DECIMAL or UUID data types.
>> Kirill Yukhin made the issue Implement DECIMAL data type #4415
>> on August 8 2019, saying
>> "After DECIMAL type was introduced to the core, its time to
implement this
>> type in SQL frontend."
>> We are nearly at August 8 2020, so apparently it takes more than one
year to
>> put
>> a data type in SQL even though it is already in the core.
>> (
>> So I think that maps and arrays, which I think are more difficult,
>> will not exist in SQL for two years. I am not worried.
> It is actually in plans for the next release, however I won't argue
with you
> here.
>
Thank you for not arguing, but I am not as polite as you, so I will add
this.
I looked at issue#4763 sql: introduce type <MAP>
https://github.com/tarantool/tarantool/issues/4763
The last thing I see is
"kyukhin added this to the wishlist milestone on Mar 6".
It is not about supporting a MAP data type in SQL, it is about
adding a function that can read a Lua map.
We can already do something like that, as I mentioned to Nikita Pettik.
>> However, it is interesting to imagine
>> UPPER(array of strings) -- should we return upper of all elements?
>> UPPER(map) -- should we return upper of both the key and the value?
>> and so on.
> I didn't even thought about these cases. I mean, if function should
accept
> STRING and we will give her an ARRAY, that it should throw an error.
After all
> ARRAY is not STRING.
>
>> I believe Lua non-scalar values should be flattened in SQL,
>> so perhaps the questions can all be avoided.
>>
>> Peter Gulutzan
>>
>
> Could you take another look at the tables?
>
> Also, here's what the function definition would look like after my
patches:
>
> tarantool> box.execute([[select "name", "param_list", "returns",
"aggregate" from "_func" where "language" = 'SQL_BUILTIN' order by
"name" LIMIT 10;]])
> ---
> - metadata:
> - name: name
> type: string
> - name: param_list
> type: array
> - name: returns
> type: string
> - name: aggregate
> type: string
> rows:
> - ['ABS', ['number'], 'number', 'none']
> - ['AVG', ['number'], 'number', 'group']
> - ['CEIL', [], 'any', 'none']
> - ['CEILING', [], 'any', 'none']
> - ['CHAR', ['unsigned'], 'string', 'none']
> - ['CHARACTER_LENGTH', ['scalar'], 'integer', 'none']
> - ['CHAR_LENGTH', ['scalar'], 'integer', 'none']
> - ['COALESCE', ['scalar'], 'scalar', 'none']
> - ['COUNT', ['scalar'], 'integer', 'group']
> - ['CURRENT_DATE', [], 'any', 'none']
> ...
>
> I used SCALAR instead of STRING, so we may use VARBINARY instead of
STRING.
>
I suppose that you cannot say 'string or varbinary' in this output, right?
>
> Below is an updated table of function result types. Remember that
this is not
> always the type of the value that we get from the function. However,
all values
> that we receive as a result of executing the function must be of the
specified
> type.
>
>
> FUNCTION NAME CURRENT SUGGESTED
> abs number number
> avg number double
> char string string
> character_length integer integer
> char_length integer integer
> coalesce scalar scalar
> count integer integer
> greatest scalar scalar
> group_concat string string
> hex string string
> ifnull integer scalar
> least scalar scalar
> length integer integer
> like integer boolean
> likelihood boolean scalar
> likely boolean scalar
> lower string string
> max scalar scalar
> min scalar scalar
> nullif scalar scalar
> position integer integer
> printf string string
> quote string string
> random integer integer
> randomblob varbinary varbinary
> replace string string
> round integer number
> row_count integer integer
> soundex string string
> substr string string
> sum number number
> total number double
> trim string string
> typeof string string
> unicode string integer
> unlikely boolean scalar
> upper string string
> version string string
> zeroblob varbinary varbinary
>
>
> Below is an updated table of function argument types. Note that the
IMPLICIT
> CAST FOR ASSIGNMENT rules will be applied before values are passed to the
> function as arguments. This means that if the function takes STRING
and we give
> it an INTEGER value, we will get an error even before we call the
function.
>
> FUNCTION NAME TYPES OF ARGUMENTS
> abs number
> avg number
> char* unsigned
> character_length scalar
> char_length scalar
> coalesce scalar
> count scalar
> greatest scalar
> group_concat scalar, scalar
> hex scalar
> ifnull scalar, scalar
> least* scalar
> length scalar
> like scalar, scalar, scalar
> likelihood scalar, double
> likely scalar
> lower scalar
> max scalar
> min scalar
> nullif scalar, scalar
> position scalar, scalar
> printf* scalar
> quote scalar
> randomblob unsigned
> replace scalar, scalar, scalar
> round double, unsigned
> soundex scalar
> substr scalar, integer, integer
> sum number
> total number
> trim* scalar
> typeof scalar
> unicode scalar
> unlikely scalar
> upper scalar
> zeroblob unsigned
>
>
> I still believe that not all functions that accept STRING have to to
accept
> VARBINARY. But that's up to you.
>
I gave a very long answer about each function that I think is relevant.
I did not know that it is up to me --
if I am now the mail.ru boss, nobody warned me.
Peter Gulutzan
^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 8+ messages in thread
* Re: [Tarantool-discussions] The result type and argument types of the built-in SQL functions.
2020-07-29 8:50 ` Timur Safin
@ 2020-07-29 17:25 ` Peter Gulutzan
0 siblings, 0 replies; 8+ messages in thread
From: Peter Gulutzan @ 2020-07-29 17:25 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: Timur Safin, 'Mergen Imeev',
korablev, v.shpilevoy, sergos, tarantool-discussions
Hi,
On 2020-07-29 2:50 a.m., Timur Safin wrote:
>
>
> : From: Peter Gulutzan <pgulutzan@ocelot.ca>
> : Subject: Re: The result type and argument types of the built-in SQL
> : functions.
> :
> ...
> : Re returning UNSIGNED instead of INTEGER for ...LENGTH(), ROW_COUNT(),
> : etc.
> : (a) This data type is not standard and is not built-in for most major
> : DBMSs.
> : Even in MySQL
> : https://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/8.0/en/numeric-type-syntax.html
> : UNSIGNED is an attribute of a data type, as in BIGINT UNSIGNED, not a
> : data type.
> : (b) The maximum INTEGER value is the same as the maximum UNSIGNED
value,
> : 18446744073709551615, so the change is not necessary.
>
> Agreed that UNSIGNED is unnecessary and should be covered by INTEGER
type.
>
> :
> : Re returning NUMBER from ROUND():
> : You say that the current return is 'integer', but when I try it,
> : I get 'double'. I think this current behaviour is acceptable.
> : However, if ROUND(1) returns INTEGER, that is good too --
> : the general idea, not a law, would be
> : "if the result data type can be the same as the input data type(s),
> : let it be the same".
>
> I'd vote for NUMBER in the places where we need either integer or double.
> NUMBER looks more Lua-ish (and we do want to have consistent behavior
> between Lua and SQL as much as possible), i.e. if you have double value
> which happens to be fraction-less then it will be normalized and
> look as integer.
>
Okay, we vote differently.
> :
> : Re types of arguments:
> : You suggest that TRIM() etc. must have 'string' arguments,
> : but currently they can be 'varbinary' and I don't see why that is bad.
>
> Yup, this is part of blob vs string question.
>
> : Re BLOB instead of string. This is related to the fact that
> : TRIM() etc. currently do not need to have 'string' arguments,
> : they can have 'varbinary' arguments. I admit that many (maybe
> : most) other vendors expect character strings in such cases.
>
> I do agree that that there are no single place where string
> should be behave anyhow different than varbinary. Blob is string,
> guid is string, thus in any case where string is acceptable should
> be others acceptable.
>
>
I think that we agree, but gave a longer answer in an earlier email.
You mention guid, which reminds me about the UUID data type.
Someday we will have to decide ...
remembering that all number values sort together,
in a column defined as SCALAR,
which contains STRING and VARBINARY and UUID values,
do the UUID and STRING values sort together,
or do the UUID and VARBINARY values sort together,
or do the UUID values come after all the STRING and VARBINARY values?
> :
> : Re MAP and ARRAY types "in the near future":
> : I think we must define "near future".
> : Currently in SQL we do not even have the Lua DECIMAL or UUID data
types.
> : Kirill Yukhin made the issue Implement DECIMAL data type #4415
> : on August 8 2019, saying
> : "After DECIMAL type was introduced to the core, its time to implement
> : this type in SQL frontend."
> : We are nearly at August 8 2020, so apparently it takes more than one
> : year to put
> : a data type in SQL even though it is already in the core.
>
> But should we do anything here - if it's blob with underlying string
> storage? Is it anyhow different to varbinary?
>
>
I am not sure what you refer to.
Do you mean that ARRAY and MAP should be treated as blobs?
Would there be any change to what
box.execute([[SELECT * FROM "_space";]])
returns?
> : (
> : So I think that maps and arrays, which I think are more difficult,
> : will not exist in SQL for two years. I am not worried.
>
> I feel your pain, but (hope) your estimations here are a little bit
> too conservative :)
>
I explained in an earlier email what I thought about issue#4763.
But I am far away
(maybe I am the only Tarantool-related worker outside the Moscow area?)
so of course you know about many things that I do not know about.
> : However, it is interesting to imagine
> : UPPER(array of strings) -- should we return upper of all elements?
> : UPPER(map) -- should we return upper of both the key and the value?
> : and so on.
> : I believe Lua non-scalar values should be flattened in SQL,
> : so perhaps the questions can all be avoided.
> :
> : Peter Gulutzan
>
> I believe Lua non-scalar should be incompatible with scalar context and
> should generate runtime errors. But it's too early to discuss this
though.
>
> Timur
Peter Gulutzan
^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 8+ messages in thread
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2020-07-27 12:24 [Tarantool-discussions] The result type and argument types of the built-in SQL functions Mergen Imeev
2020-07-27 19:39 ` Peter Gulutzan
2020-07-28 11:28 ` Mergen Imeev
2020-07-29 16:47 ` Peter Gulutzan
2020-07-29 8:50 ` Timur Safin
2020-07-29 17:25 ` Peter Gulutzan
2020-07-29 8:54 ` Timur Safin
2020-07-29 9:34 ` Mergen Imeev
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