Re: Unclear documentation (IMMUTABLE functions) - Mailing list pgsql-bugs

From Neil Conway
Subject Re: Unclear documentation (IMMUTABLE functions)
Date
Msg-id 1062786722.447.5.camel@tokyo
Whole thread Raw
In response to Re: Unclear documentation (IMMUTABLE functions)  (Stephan Szabo <sszabo@megazone.bigpanda.com>)
Responses Re: Unclear documentation (IMMUTABLE functions)  (Tom Lane <tgl@sss.pgh.pa.us>)
Re: Unclear documentation (IMMUTABLE functions)  (terry@greatgulfhomes.com)
List pgsql-bugs
On Fri, 2003-09-05 at 10:01, Stephan Szabo wrote:
> This is the section in create function reference page about immutable. I'd
> thought it was clear, but do you have a better suggested wording?

While we're on the subject, this adjacent paragraph of the docs seems
unclear:

        STABLE indicates that within a single table scan the function
        will consistently return the same result for the same argument
        values, but that its result could change across SQL statements.
        This is the appropriate selection for functions whose results
        depend on database lookups, parameter variables (such as the
        current time zone), etc. Also note that the current_timestamp
        family of functions qualify as stable, since their values do not
        change within a transaction.

So, can a STABLE function change across SQL statements (as the beginning
of the paragraph implies), or across transactions (as the end of the
paragraph implies)?

-Neil

pgsql-bugs by date:

Previous
From: Tom Lane
Date:
Subject: Re: Unclear documentation (IMMUTABLE functions)
Next
From: "Mendola Gaetano"
Date:
Subject: Re: to_timestamp not stable if date string shorter than template