Each time a new variable is defined, the program keeps track of several attributes of the variable that control how it is generated. Some of these attributes can be explicitly set by the user and some are determined by the SQL verbs or clauses selected by the user.
The properties explicitly set by the user include:
- Column name — either provided by the user or defaulted to a system generated value
- Column type — either chosen by the user, inherited from another column, or set to a default value (only the numerous Teradata character, numeric and date/time types are allowed, not byte or graphic types)
- Description — a description of any size may be associated with a variable
- Column Attributes — by option, several column attributes may be associated with a variable