Samofatov, Nickolay wrote:

> My opinion is that we should not go PostgreSQL way introducing 50+
> custom operators made of all combinations of =, *, ~, ^, /, |, !, -,
> ?, #, &, <, >, @ etc.
>
> Oracle way of adding built-in functions seems like better idea to me.
> Something like MODIFIED(A, B) returning TRUE if A differs from B
> considering null as a special value seems to look better.
> People can better read words instead of remembering 50 non-standard
> symbol combinations. Note that many people come from C/C++ background
> and may start mismatching = and == in expressions by accident. C/C++
> would give a warning in such cases while Firebird won't.

I couldn't agree more. We could use something like :=: that can't be
confused with most languages but the meaning will be always obscure. An
explicit name helps.

The problem would be worse if someone read Borland's IB documentation where
they include the == operator as natively allowed being the same than =.

C.