title: Retrieving column and other metadata information in Teradata
body: <p>I have a half dozen views in SQL Server that I need to replicate in Teradata, but I haven't been able to find the TD equivalent of the SQL metadata tables. I'd like to replicate the following functionality (which I assume is fairly self-explainatory):</p>
  
  <pre><code>select table_name, column_id ordinal_position, column_name,
     data_type, char_length char_max_length, 
     data_precision numeric_precision, data_scale numeric_scale
  from user_tab_columns
  
  select name as FUNCTION_NAME
  from sys.objects
  where type_desc='SQL_SCALAR_FUNCTION'
  
  select TABLE_NAME as VIEW_NAME
  from INFORMATION_SCHEMA.VIEWS
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>I'd also like to know if there are any usable Teradata references online; everything I run across seems to be advertising rather than practical information.</p>