Peter Eisentraut <peter_e@gmx.net> writes:
> It could also be considered deterministic, strict, cacheable,
> mathematically sensible, real, pleasant, or good. ;-)
> Out of those, I believe "const" is the worst term, because saying "sin(x)
> is a constant function" sounds pretty wrong.
Yeah, that was my problem with "const" too. But "deterministic" has the
same problem --- in the ordinary meaning of the term, a function doesn't
become nondeterministic just because it depends on SET TIMEZONE as well
as its explicit parameters. It's also too long and too hard to spell
correctly ;-).
"cacheable" (whatever spelling; I suppose we should consider accepting
both, cf analyze/analyse) is a fine term except that it isn't quite clear
whether to use it for case 1 or case 2, which means that people won't be
able to remember which case it applies to ... unless we come up with
some really memorable choice for the other case.
So far the only suggestion I've seen that really makes me happy is
"volatile" for case 3. Brad's idea of "invariant" for case 1 isn't
too bad, but as a partner for "cacheable" it seems a bit weak;
if you haven't looked at the manual lately, will you remember which
is which?
regards, tom lane
