Re: dbdebunk 'Quote of Week' comment

x wrote:
> "Marshall Spight" <marshall.spight_at_gmail.com> wrote in message
> > > eliminate pointers from the data model.
>
> > I'm not sure I share this point of view. I propose that
> > every pointer is meaningless; every key is meaningful,
> > whether system generated or not.
>
> Meaningless for whom ?
> Meaningful for whom ?

People.

For computers, which one is meaningful is reversed.

> >The meaning is exactly
> > that it is the identity of the row. A randomly-generated
> > customer id still means something.
>
> That customer_id is meaningful for the end-user even if it was once
> randomly-generated.
> If it is randomly-generated every time some customer buy something, then it
> is not a customer_id.

Exactly!

Marshall Received on Mon Aug 29 2005 - 17:19:15 CEST