<HTML dir=ltr><HEAD><TITLE>Re: [postgis-devel] Function names in PostGIS</TITLE>
<META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=unicode">
<META content="MSHTML 6.00.6000.16674" name=GENERATOR></HEAD>
<BODY>
<DIV id=idOWAReplyText34060 dir=ltr>
<DIV dir=ltr><FONT face=Arial color=#000000 size=2>Good points. I guess I'm in the "What OGC functions can I count on in all dbs I work with?" mode that I completely forgot about the ease of not having to remember ST_ from PGIS_ or something like that and the3 beauty of having all the functions ordered together.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr><FONT face=Arial size=2>Even with that mindset when you compare the strengths and weaknesses of the non-spatial functionality of each of the various different dbs and slight syntactic differences - you end up tackling the same questions slightly differently anyway. So the most I can hope for at this point is Knowledge Transfer which I guess makes the whole ST_ non ST_ argument much less important.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr><FONT face=Arial size=2>Thanks,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr><FONT face=Arial size=2>Regina</FONT></DIV></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr><BR>
<HR tabIndex=-1>
<FONT face=Tahoma size=2><B>From:</B> postgis-devel-bounces@postgis.refractions.net on behalf of Paul Ramsey<BR><B>Sent:</B> Mon 7/21/2008 7:42 PM<BR><B>To:</B> PostGIS Development Discussion<BR><B>Subject:</B> Re: [postgis-devel] Function names in PostGIS<BR></FONT><BR></DIV>
<DIV>
<P><FONT size=2>Originally we were going to have ST_ for standard functions, SE_ for<BR>esri functions (since that's how they are defined in their API) and<BR>SP_ for postgis-only functions. But it seemed like it was imposing a<BR>needless extra memorization step for users: not only do they have to<BR>remember the mnemonic for what the function *does* ("startpoint",<BR>"geometryn", etc) they also have to remember what category it fall<BR>into, so they can prefix it correctly.<BR><BR>In the end we just want with ST_, which at least provided us the name<BR>space uniqueness and general syntactic compatibility with<BR>ESRI/DB2/Informix.<BR><BR>P.<BR></FONT></P></DIV></BODY></HTML>
<HTML><BODY><P><hr size=1></P>
<P><STRONG>
The substance of this message, including any attachments, may be confidential, legally privileged and/or exempt from disclosure pursuant to Massachusetts law. It is intended solely for the addressee. If you received this in error, please contact the sender and delete the material from any computer.
</STRONG></P></BODY></HTML>
<P><hr size=1></P>
<P><STRONG><font size="2" color="339900"> Help make the earth a greener place. If at all possible resist printing this email and join us in saving paper. </p> <p> </font></STRONG></P>