But boy, watch out what happens when some other intelligent person disagrees. I wonder what would have happened if CODD, DATE and CELKO were sitting at one table. We can only guess, CODD died a few years ago. There is much to say about develloping database sultions. But we should keep in mind that in the end, WE have to deliver practical database solutions, while they mostly talk about theoretical issues and generally don't have any idea what a developer has to write to at front and back end to write a decent application.

I agree. From time to time, I've seen people get ripped to pieces on the NGs for merely posing questions about dynamic SQL. Granted, it's something you want to minimize - but as a contractor/consultant, there are times where I'm brought into a situation involving a less than ideal database schema that CAN'T be changed - and so I might have to come up with a less than textbook solution.

Celko's book "SQL Puzzles" should be required reading (as well as other books) for anyone writing queries for applications - but one has to remember that some SQL books/articles assume a good schema.

Kevin