Re: Database design, Keys and some other things

mAsterdam wrote:
> Marshall Spight wrote:
> >
> > Perhaps we have different definitions of surrogate keys. The VIN
> > may be something that's not a surrogate key in database A, but
> > it's certainly a surrogate key in *some* database, and hence I
> > don't see any particular difference between it and any other
> > made-up identifiers. SOMEone, some database, made up the VIN
> > out of thin air; we could well say they "implemented [it] to get
> > [their] system working." So I still don't see the distinction
> > you're drawing here.
>
> There is an important difference. Unless we are talking about
> that specific "*some*" database, the VIN is /not/ a surrogate key in
> the database at hand.

So you are saying that whether something is a surrogate key or not is determined within the context of a specific database?

Marshall Received on Fri Sep 30 2005 - 16:39:09 CEST