Why are Oracle table/column/index names limited to 30 characters?

Question

I can understand that many years ago there would be this kind of limitation, but nowadays surely this limit could easily be increased. We have naming conventions for objects

Answer 1

ok, the limitation exists....

but do you really NEED more than to 30 character to name a table/index/column??

when writing queries, with that limitation I STILL find some column/table names annoying. If the limit were higher I might run into tables that required a query like:

select unique_identifier_column, 
time_when_the_user_remembered_to_change_the_row_in_the_receipt_table, 
foreign_key_to_the_ap_invoice_distributions_history_table_related_to_the_all_rows_table 
from ap_invoices_really_really_all_all_rows_present_in_this_ebs_table.

I apologize for the huge words :P