Why should I capitalize my SQL keywords? [duplicate]

Answer 1

Apropos of nothing perhaps, but I prefer typesetting SQL keywords in small caps. That way they look capitalized to most readers, but they aren't the same as the ugly ALL CAPS style.

A further advantage is that I can leave the code as is and print it in the traditional style. (I use the listings package in LaTeX for pretty-printing code.)

Answer 2

What's worse it that as the majority of developers at my office believe in capitals for sql keywords so I have had to change to uppercase. Majority rules.

I believe lowercase is easier to read and that given that sql keywords are highlighted in blue anyway.

In the glory days keywords were in captials because we were developing on green screens!

The question is: if we don't write c# keywords in uppercase then why do I have to write sql keywords in uppercase?

Like someone else has said - capitals are SHOUTING!

Answer 3

Some SQL developers here like to lay it out like this:

SELECT s.name, m.eyes, m.foo
FROM muppets m, muppet_shows ms, shows s 
WHERE m.name = 'Gonzo' AND m.muppetId = ms.muppetId AND ms.showId = s.showId

They claim this is easier to read unlike your one field per line approach which I use myself.

Answer 4

Code has punctuation which SQL statements lack. There are dots and parentheses and semicolons to help you keep things separate. Code also has lines. Despite the fact that you can write a SQL statement on multiple physical lines, it is a single statement, a single "line of code."

IF i were to write english text without any of the normal punctuation IT might be easier if i uppercased the start of new clauses THAT way itd be easier to tell where one ended and the next began OTHERWISE a block of text this long would probably be very difficult to read NOT that id suggest its easy to read now BUT at least you can follow it i think