Re: Maximum of Columns in one table (9i)

sybrandb_at_yahoo.com wrote:
>
> One could question whether an entity with more than 40-50 attributes
> has been properly normalized.
> Probably it hasn't. In most cases I am aware of the original designers
> didn't even know the concept of normalization.
> So I would agree with Daniel on this one.
>
> --
> Sybrand Bakker
> Senior Oracle DBA

I have a stack of people each of which provide a Y or N response to 200 questions, after which the table is static.

So I could have:

person,question_no,response

or

person,q1response,q2response,....,q200response

Yep, I know the former is far more elegant,correct,<insert favourable term here>, but if my requirement is to be able to query any permutation of responses, eg "all the people that answered Y to question 17 or N to questions 12,31,65,197 or ....", then the latter (with some bitmap indexes) is probably gonna fly a lot better.

Sometimes the limitations/features of the target environment will make deviate from "whats right"

Connor

-- 
Connor McDonald
Co-author: "Mastering Oracle PL/SQL - Practical Solutions"
Co-author: "Oracle Insight - Tales of the OakTable"

web: http://www.oracledba.co.uk
web: http://www.oaktable.net
email: connor_mcdonald_at_yahoo.com


"Semper in excremento, sole profundum qui variat."

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