RE: SQL to retrieve all distinct records
- From: Michael Milligan <Michael.Milligan@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "'oracle-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx'" <oracle-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 15 Apr 2004 14:57:45 -0500
"Duly noted. Do I have to salute and say "yessir" or the 1st amendment still
applies?"
You don't have to salute, but I'll bet she is wondering whether or not she
should say "Mother, may I?" to you before asking a question. Yes, the first
amendment still applies fully, even to rude statements like yours. But the
first amendment cuts the other way as well.
You can make all the phony logic you want, maybe even convince yourself with
it, but there is no excuse for responding to her with the disrespect that
you did. None.
At ease, Private.
-----Original Message-----
From: Mladen Gogala [mailto:mladen@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Thursday, April 15, 2004 12:31 PM
To: oracle-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: SQL to retrieve all distinct records
On 04/15/2004 12:48:13 PM, Michael Milligan wrote:
> Mladen,
>
> Do you get a kick out of being rude?
Yes, especially when the person who asks the question doesn't do
her or his homework. Increased number of perfectly obvious questions
decreases usefulness of this list.
> Let me break her question down for you.
> First, since you have problems with the English language, let me help you.
> The correct grammar usage is "I am a foreigner", not "me foreigner".
Thanks. Me grateful.
> As far
> as her question is concerned, it's obvious that she wants to retrieve the
> distinct values of columns a and b, and list the associated value of
column
> c. What she wants is not possible.
It's not at all obvious. From the listing that she sent as an example, you
can
see that there are different values of "c" for the same pair of "a" and "b".
I don't find badly formulated questions obvious as they're usually a sign
of questionable logic. Experience tells me that if the question looks
perfectly
obvious, and it isn't, there is a reason. People tend to ask perfectly
obvious
questions in perfectly obvious ways, in order to get a perfectly obvious
answer.
The perfectly obvious question is why ask a perfectly obvious question, when
the answer too, is perfectly obvious.
> She will have to use an aggregate of the
> values in column c based upon a GROUP BY of columns a and b.
That is true, provided your interpretation of her "perfectly obvious"
question is correct. It is an extremely elementary question, which
makes it even more annoying. I don't know about you, but I'm in a
habit of reading the fine manual first and pestering people with
questions later. That's just me, though. I'm no longer in my "mother
Theresa" phase, my current role model is ...never mind, you wouldn't
understand anyway.
> But there is a
> way to say it without being offensive, and clearly, you haven't found it.
If
> you have, you haven't chosen it.
> You would do well to keep your
> "smart-based" remarks to yourself.
Duly noted. Do I have to salute and say "yessir" or the 1st amendment still
applies?
--
Mladen Gogala
Oracle DBA
----------------------------------------------------------------
Please see the official ORACLE-L FAQ: http://www.orafaq.com
----------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe send email to: oracle-l-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
put 'unsubscribe' in the subject line.
--
Archives are at //www.freelists.org/archives/oracle-l/
FAQ is at //www.freelists.org/help/fom-serve/cache/1.html
-----------------------------------------------------------------
This e-mail, including attachments, may include confidential and/or
proprietary information, and may be used only by the person or entity to
which it is addressed. If the reader of this e-mail is not the intended
recipient or his or her authorized agent, the reader is hereby notified that
any dissemination, distribution or copying of this e-mail is prohibited. If
you have received this e-mail in error, please notify the sender by replying
to this message and delete this e-mail immediately.
----------------------------------------------------------------
Please see the official ORACLE-L FAQ: http://www.orafaq.com
----------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe send email to: oracle-l-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
put 'unsubscribe' in the subject line.
--
Archives are at //www.freelists.org/archives/oracle-l/
FAQ is at //www.freelists.org/help/fom-serve/cache/1.html
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Other related posts:
