Peter Donald <donaldp@apache.org> wrote:

[re: foreach vs select ordering semantics]

>Well where foreach has been implemented it often does have ordering
>semantics (as a matter of fact I can't think of a implementation that  
> >does not have ordering semantics - can you?). However very few decent   
> >(I can't think of any) implementations of SQL have ordering semantics >at 
>that level (people who know the underlying strategy/structures/db >can 
>force a particular ordering but that was no inherent in SQL last >time I 
>read about it).

All I have to say is that where SELECT has been implemented it often does 
have ordering semantics too. All databases provide for default ordering 
where you don't have to specify how to order your result set just as you 
don't have to say that you want your files from a directory be selected in 
alphabetical order with foreach. Show me an implementation (database or 
shell) that doesn't have this and I'll admit I was wrong.

>
> >SELECT * FROM MyTable WHERE (SELECT ...) is roughly equivalent to
> >
> >foreach $file in MyDirectory
> >  foreach $extension in $file
> >    print $file.$extension
>
>oh really ? Luckily you have that ketword "roughly" eh? ;)

Want to tell us the difference? :)

Alex Smith
Insight LLC

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