It was a trick question. I know the rownum trick, but it's not the same.

On further checking, rownum doesn't respect order by and you have to use a nested select if you want the top N of an ordered set.

Taken from http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?ThinkSqlAsConstraintSatisfaction, about halfway down the page. Further more (and I haven't looked for the reference), limit works with nested queries correctly where rownum doesn't always work. It's a neat almost-the-same, but it's not.

Being right, does not endow the right to be rude; politeness costs nothing.
Being unknowing, is not the same as being stupid.
Expressing a contrary opinion, whether to the individual or the group, is more often a sign of deeper thought than of cantankerous belligerence.
Do not mistake your goals as the only goals; your opinion as the only opinion; your confidence as correctness. Saying you know better is not the same as explaining you know better.

In reply to Re^4: Should it be database independent? by dragonchild
in thread Should it be database independent? by szabgab

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