Re: Sequence Numbers as Primary Keys

^^^^^^^ (jhagans_at_telerama.lm.com) wrote:

I am finding that any reasonably sized group has this same debate... I am ALWAYS (so far) in favor of sequence numbers as keys.

: The IT group claims that their C++ program will be much more efficient with fixed-length
: unique identifiers.
:
: The DBA group refuses to use sequence numbers claiming that they are not "business
: data" and do not belong in the database.

Articles and books by Mr Date are a good start, but may go way over the heads of the people you are debating with. (Happened to me) So the best thing to do (if you can) is to actually test performane on a single key table and multiple key table on your system. Each time I do this, I find that the single key design is MUCH faster, and to me, MUCH easier to maintain. The standard argument is that you can't understand that data in the table so it makes it harder... Well, personally, I love to look at intersection tables that contain nothing but dates and sequenced keys and say to myself 'This means shit...'

:
: The database has probably around 50 tables with an estimated 6 million hits a day;
: However it is only a few tables (7 or less) that will be getting the majority of the hits. The
: composite key in these tables is quite large, usually 5 or 6 columns to make the row
: unique.
:
: We are running Oracle 7 on a RS/6000 Unix box.
:
: Any insight to this matter would be greatly appreciated.
:
: Joel Hagans
: jhagans_at_telerama.lm.com
:

Don't give up the fight! You know you're right.... Randy :)

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