Column manipulation with ALTER TABLE

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Column manipulation with ALTER TABLE

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TomThomson SSC Guru Points: 104773 More actions · Answer 1

ArnoKwetters (6/16/2015)
Thanks to all who have the courage to answer this question before tomorrow.
At this moment the incorrect answers are still the majority.

And they are still the majority.

It's a nice simple straightforward question, seems odd that it's worth two points (as it's something every DBA or Database Developer should know off the top of their head), but as the majority of answers so far are wrong maybe two is fair enough. Anyway, the proportion of wrong answers still being above 50% made me look at the BOL page to see if there's anything there that could lead people astray; as far as I can see there isn't, but the information they need would to discover the answer to the question is missing.

I wonder if people are getting it wrong because they look it up (as I do with, for example, pivot). The shiny new BOL page (referenced in the explanation) has quietly omitted the BNF for <column definition> - BOL dropping information again. The feature list may improve from release to release, but it's becoming a solid tradition that BOL gets less complete and more difficult to use from release to release, and this indicates that 2016 is continuing that unfortunate tradition.

Tom

mickyT SSChampion Points: 10360 More actions · Answer 2

Nice back to basics question thanks.

I've always found the fact the COLUMN is not even an optional keyword for ADD a bit strange, but it's one of those things that does stick in my memory.

Bhushan Kulkarni SSCrazy Points: 2829 More actions · Answer 3

Bhushan Kulkarni

SSCrazy

Points: 2829

June 17, 2015 at 2:57 am

#1805969

Easy one:-)

Arno Kwetters Hall of Fame Points: 3704 More actions · Answer 4

Maybe for you Bhushan,

But until now (630) the incorrects answers (332 = 53%) are still the majority

Ed Wagner SSC Guru Points: 287024 More actions · Answer 5

I was looking for the trick in the question, but it was straightforward. Thanks.

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davoscollective SSCertifiable Points: 6355 More actions · Answer 6

Good question. I dislike the inconsistency with the syntax. You should always have to specify the keyword COLUMN. It makes it more self explanatory. Having to memorize idiosyncrasies of syntax wastes everyone's time. Smugness over knowing this is unjustified. Not knowing this is inconsequential.