On 12/18/11 6:50 AM, ehaerim wrote: > Two possible structures. > > [1] (Symbol, Date, Blob) => Symbol primary and Date is secondary key > [2] (Symbol_Date, Blob) => Symbol_Date is single primary key
Relational databases nearly always work best when each individual data item (column) is stored separately and is, therefore, individually addressable. Combining values into compound values should only be done when there is a specific reason to do it. Your scenario is well within the design and implementation goals of all current RDBMS systems, so there is no good reason to combine any table columns. It will require extra work on your part and on the server's part to process the compound items. Why do it? Go with [2].
