To add 2 new cols to existing table in migration, we will have to do:

add_column :my_table, :col1, :string 
add_column :my_table, :col2, :string


this will create 2 ALTER table statements.


Alter table my_table add column col1 varchar(255)
Alter table my_table add column col2 varchar(255)



I don't know about all databases, but atleast MySQL doesn't seem to modify 
the table "in place". MySQL actually creates a new table, as copy of the 
old table with the specified modifications.Two separate statements would 
require MySQL to do that copy operation twice.so I am wondering can we add 
support for adding multiple columns to table using single ALTER TABLE? if 
yes, then I see following approches

1. Add support to accept multiple cols, in add_column[1]
2. Introduce a new method add_columns
3. Internal optimisation, if there are multiple add_column calls to same 
table in a migration, consolidate them & generate single ALTER TABLE 
statement. not sure if that is possible?

If you any thoughts on this Performance Improvement Idea, let me know

--Gaurish 



[1] 
http://api.rubyonrails.org/classes/ActiveRecord/ConnectionAdapters/SchemaStatements.html#method-i-add_column

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