Re: Which Oracle book was this?

From: Mark D Powell <Mark.Powell_at_eds.com>
Date: Mon, 27 Oct 2008 10:54:52 -0700 (PDT)
Message-ID: <862c5860-8a79-4930-a12f-b15b5c33a7d1@p39g2000hsb.googlegroups.com>


On Oct 25, 3:43 am, dba_..._at_yahoo.com wrote:
> Years ago, I skimmed an Oracle book at the bookstore.
> I'm sure it was written by Tom Kyte.
>
> In it, he critiqued a system that would store data in
> rows, instead of simple columns!  And, it performed very badly.
>
> So, instead of a typical table structure:
>
> field1
> field2
> field3
> field4
>
> There was a lookup table with field codes, and what they meant.
>
> Fieldcode_id
> Fieldcode_name
>
> The "data" table would be structured:
>
> Fieldcode_id
> value
> etc.
>
> I remember reading words to the effect:
> "How did it perform?  Horribly, pathetically, awfully!"
>
> I'm unfortunately dealing with such a system now,
> and would like to show this critique to the brass.
>
> Which book can I find this in please?
>
> Thanks a lot!

On Page 34 of Effective Oracle by Design there is a warning about using generic data models. Maybe this is the book you are thinking of.

HTH -- Mark D Powell -- Received on Mon Oct 27 2008 - 12:54:52 CDT

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