Re: Units of Measurement in the Database Model

> Having defined the new type, you then just use it in the schema just
> as you would use any other type.
>
> CREATE TABLE Stuff_Being_Measured (
> Id SYSTEM_GENERATED_KEY PRIMARY KEY,
> What Description NOT NULL,
> When Time NOT NULL,
> How_Much Measurement NOT NULL
> );

Would one ever want to combine heterogenous measurements into a single [user defined datatype] column? For example,

Stuff_Being_Measured

id=1 -- 100 kg
id=2 -- 60 kg
id=3 -- 2 m
 

Now we have to join to Persons table! Wouldn't it be better to just add weight and height columns to the Persons table?

The good point about measurements is that there are standards. Therefore, I would like to see any justification for storing measured values in nonstandard units. Moreover, is an artifact that the person's height has been measured in feets and, then, has been translated to meters, and, finally, stored into the database of any importance to the end user? Received on Fri Apr 12 2002 - 23:40:34 CEST