> It is a hack, but when someone wants you to do something in a way
> different from the norm, aren't they asking for a hack?
>
> SQL Server does something like
> select top (1) from ....
>
> I am thinking this is NOT a SQL-99 standard.
>
This was an interview with Amazon, and I don't think Amazon wanted a hack.
I hope Amazon doesn't use hacks. There has to be another way. It would
be cruel if they expected me know some database specific functionality.
Here's what I gave them:
select value from table t where t.value > (select t2.value from table t2);
which would be fine if the sub-select returned simply a list, but that
isn't even valid SQL (I didn't get the job, BTW).
Yasir