Recently I needed to added some functionality to MySQL (5.1) for a project I am working on.
Several different stored routines needed to be written, so I went about writing them. Having never written (what I know now are refered to as “routines) for MySQL I went to the logical place: MySQL Documentaiton.
Being impatient I glanced at the first few lines and found this:
Header: “19.2. Using Stored Routines (Procedures and Functions)”
My Thought: Ok, so MySQL considers routines to be either procedures or functions, and because the documentation for both is all on one page, there couldn’t be that much difference between the two.
In fact on the main landing page for routines, there is no mention of the distinct differences between a procedure and a function.
All I’m asking is that MySQL create two separate pages for both CREATE PROCEDURE and CREATE FUNCTION, or at the very least have a comparison page for the have and have notes for the different routine types.
I won’t delve into the many differences as google returns the more relevant results, but at a high level CREATE FUNCTION seems better suited for simple non-cursor based routines that return values and CREATE PROCEDURE for more complicated cursor based routines.
Cowboy Coder 