[thelist] Sorting with SQL

[Rob Smith]

<snip>
i should like to point out that 2A10 is NLNN and that unexpected letter 
in there is what caused the CAST(... AS SMALLINT) in my query to barf

any other whoopsies before i roll up my sleeves again?
</snip>

...Yah.  The known patterns are:

  LLL N-N
  LLL NN-N
  LL N-N
  NLNN
  LLLLLL
  NNNN

  Would you then just extend the case statements? I'm just completely
confused about these types of statements, no matter how often I try to
understand them.

 // me