I read that section of the manual not that VARCHAR may go away, but that that the "functionality" of the VARCHAR datatype may one day differ from that of the VARCHAR2 datatype.
I forsee something like what happened with the CHAR type between v6 and v7. Just my 0.02eur Kevin -----Original Message----- Sent: Wednesday, December 10, 2003 4:40 PM To: Multiple recipients of list ORACLE-L Wednesday, December 10, 2003, 3:39:26 PM, DENNIS WILLIAMS ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) wrote: DW> 2. I have been curious about Oracle's statement that you should use DW> VARCHAR2. I am too, now. That statement in the docs about the meaning of VARCHAR maybe changing someday has been there as far back as my own DBA career goes. Given that VARCHAR is in the ANSI/ISO standard, and that it's supported by DB2 and by SQL Server, its meaning doesn't seem likely to change, so it almost seems more reasonable (to me) to use it than to recommend against using it. Best regards, Jonathan Gennick --- Brighten the corner where you are http://Gennick.com * 906.387.1698 * mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Join the Oracle-article list and receive one article on Oracle technologies per month by email. To join, visit http://four.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/oracle-article, or send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and include the word "subscribe" in either the subject or body. -- Please see the official ORACLE-L FAQ: http://www.orafaq.net -- Author: Jonathan Gennick INET: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Fat City Network Services -- 858-538-5051 http://www.fatcity.com San Diego, California -- Mailing list and web hosting services --------------------------------------------------------------------- To REMOVE yourself from this mailing list, send an E-Mail message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (note EXACT spelling of 'ListGuru') and in the message BODY, include a line containing: UNSUB ORACLE-L (or the name of mailing list you want to be removed from). You may also send the HELP command for other information (like subscribing). -- Please see the official ORACLE-L FAQ: http://www.orafaq.net -- Author: Kevin Toepke INET: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Fat City Network Services -- 858-538-5051 http://www.fatcity.com San Diego, California -- Mailing list and web hosting services --------------------------------------------------------------------- To REMOVE yourself from this mailing list, send an E-Mail message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (note EXACT spelling of 'ListGuru') and in the message BODY, include a line containing: UNSUB ORACLE-L (or the name of mailing list you want to be removed from). You may also send the HELP command for other information (like subscribing).