Re: Informix limitations, should we be using Oracle?

"Jim Kennedy" <kennedy-family_at_attbi.com> wrote ...
> In Oracle the Varchar or varchar2 fields are recommended to be the length
> you desire and not an even number.(unless that's what you want) I don't
> think in Oracle that char is actually stored padded.
>

I don't know much about Oracle page storage excepting the pages are typically set for a percentage fullness; as rowsizes are changed (eg a varchar changes size) the contents of the page are shuffled to eliminate gaps, while paying attention to the percentage. Therefore a growing varchar won't (always?) overflow to another page. Or something like that... so it follows that there is nothing to fear from varchars in O.

Without going into excessive detail and being completely OT, Informix lays varchars into the pages differently, and a side-effect of that implementation is that some extra-high-performance query plan actions cannot be applied to tables with varchars. Fortunately Informix chars make excellent varchars anyway, so the limitation to varchar(255) is largely irrelevant.

That was the point I was trying to make... It's a large culture shock for Oraclers who start with Informix, and one that some O people never get over.

Now, let's not hear any more on this OT subject - at least without changing the subject line ;-)

Cheers. Received on Tue Oct 22 2002 - 01:59:54 CEST