Greg Stark <gsstark@mit.edu> writes:
> Do other databases not allow you to specify a return value in addition to the
> OUT and INOUT parameters?
Oracle discourages OUT parameters in a function, so PL/SQL at least
shouldn't be a big source of cases where that's a problem.
> I would have expected the return value to be an extra column added to the
> record.
I'd prefer not to do that, because having a "return type" that's
different from the true return type of the function (ie the RECORD)
is going to cause untold amounts of confusion.
regards, tom lane