Re: Design needed: large arrays

mfriedma_at_us.oracle.com (Michael Friedman) writes:

>Well, relational theory says you put each element of the array in a
>separate row. In the real world, however, this is rarely, if ever,
>done. It uses too much space and is too slow.
>The interesting question is how do we denormalize this information in
>the optimum fashion to take advantage of current technology.
One way is to put them in fields with constructed names

        ITEM_ARRAY_LENGTH, ITEM_000, ITEM_002, ITEM_003 ... You can use substitution parameters in sqlplus or fancier bindings in Pro*C to access these.
However, I heard a rumor that Oracle plans to support repeating elements at some stage. Anybody know more?

-- 
David T. Bath             | Email:dtb_at_otto.bf.rmit.oz.au (131.170.40.10)
Senior Tech Consultant    | Phone: +61 3 347-7511 TZ=AEST-10AEDST-11
Global Technology Group   | 179 Grattan St, Carlton, Vic, 3153, AUSTRALIA
"The robber of your free will does not exist" - Epictetus