Re: Primary Key of a table
Date: 1996/03/30
Message-ID: <4jiovv$sah_at_dfw-ixnews2.ix.netcom.com>#1/1
In <4jebm3$5p_at_dlsn31.dal.mobil.com> Jay Mehta
<jvmehta_at_mra.ffx.mobil.com> writes:
>
>One of the consultant I worked with recommends only numeric primary
key.
>Numeric primary keys may be the most efficient. Numeric column uses 2
>bytes to 21 bytes max to store a number, depending on the value and
that
>may be less compared to character or other datatypes. Compact size of
>primary key may result in improved performance.
>
>Jay Mehta
>DBA
>Mobil Oil
>
Is the suggestion to use a dummy numeric key generated using a sequnce everytime a record is inserted in the table ?
I think in the complex situations where the number of columns in a table which forms the primary key exceeds 4-5 and the key is used as a Foreign key in other tables then probably should go for a dummy numeric key. Otherwise we should use the table coulmns in the PK.
Would welcome comments on this as I am in a process of designing a database currently and has followed this practice in past.
Amit Bansal Received on Sat Mar 30 1996 - 00:00:00 CET