Re: integer id columns for all tables

garhone wrote:

> Hi,
>
> Someone with greater expertise than I recently told me that it is best
> to have an integer primary-key for all tables in a database, even if
> the table already has some non-integer primary key, or some sort of
> composite primary key. If there is already a non-integer key, then
> create a new sequence column and set that as the primary key.
>
> Does anyone have an opinion on this and why?

He sounds like an idiot who learned a simplistic rule that relieves him from having to think.

The design criteria for candidate keys are: simplicity, stability, familiarity and irreducibility. While an arbitrary id column is simple, stable and irreducible, it is not familiar and will not in any way keep your staff from duplicating entries.

I highly recommend Fabian Pascal's _Practical Issues in Database Management_ book. Received on Fri Aug 25 2006 - 17:12:22 CEST