Re: Data storage question

Hi,

    From a relational point of view you have a bad design. In essence you are storing an array in each row of the table. True, when using Oracle, it won't waste space, but what happens the day one item requires 11 attributes? (As improbable as that sounds to you today the probability of it happening is very close to 1!)

regards
Jerry Gitomer

Nandakumar wrote in message <7pkl9o$hfp$1_at_nnrp1.deja.com>...
>Hi,
>
>I need to store the attributes of an item in a table. The
attributes are
>not pre-defined, but there is a maximum limit to the number of
>attributes, say 10. Initially there will only be "2" attributes
that
>would be stored in database. Unknown attributes are stored as
NULLs.
>
>So i decide to go for a table with 10 varchar2 fields for the
>attributes.
>
>Say, data are stored in this fashion in the database and the
number of
>records has reached 5(or more) million.
>
>Now, if i find out that there won't be any need to store more
than "2"
>attributes in the table how bad is my design of the table. How
much
>storage space would i have saved had i designed the table with
just "2"
>varchar2 fields?
>
>mmm! i hear you all say this is an one line question!!
>Thanks
>--
>Nandakumar
>Systems Analyst
>New York
>(N.Kumar_at_rocketmail.com)
>
>
>Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
>Share what you know. Learn what you don't.
Received on Mon Aug 23 1999 - 11:55:23 CDT