Re: NUMBER versa CHAR as a primary key

Janusz,

I suppose that one could make a case that theoretically a NUMBER pk will perform better than a CHAR pk. This case will probably be made due to the fact that comparing a number against a number is quicker than comparing two character strings, character by character. But in reality, the difference is too small to notice. So in real life, you shouldn't notice any difference between these datatypes for your pk's.

HTH,
Brian

Janusz Gryczman wrote:
>
> Is it true, that using NUMBER Oracle type versa CHAR for a primary key
> improves performance ?
> If yes what is the ratio ? Is it really significant ?
> What about if primary key has a type VARCHAR ?
> Really appreciate answer to this question.
 

-- 
========================================
Brian Peasland
Raytheons Systems at
  USGS EROS Data Center
These opinions are my own and do not
necessarily reflect the opinions of my 
company!
========================================