> Virtually all of my application level programming is in Java, for
> example, and JDBC has no way to support the construct above. [OK, I
> suppose you could argue that it doesn't have a way to access a
> sequence, either, which would rather put me on the spot].

Unfortunately(?) there is a standard API in JDBC 3.0 for this case,
that's why I wrote that it would be nice addition for JayBird:

public ResultSet getGeneratedKeys()
throws SQLException

Retrieves any auto-generated keys created as a result of executing
this Statement object. If this Statement object did not generate any
keys, an empty ResultSet object is returned.

Returns:
a ResultSet object containing the auto-generated key(s)
generated by the execution of this Statement object
Throws:
SQLException - if a database access error occurs
Since:
1.4

It has been introduced in JDBC 3.0 (i.e. in JDK 1.4.x), but many
drivers support this construct.

> [The above is predicated on the probably unwarranted assumption that
> the SQL committee didn't slip it into the standard when I wasn't
> watching.]

SQL99 and working draft of SQL2003 do not contain proposal, however
this feature has been discussed in Note 849 (SQL 2003 Foundation, page
Notes-17 (1289)). You should check the final specification, it may be
already there.

Roman