All, Does anyone have any specific metrics demonstrating that a PK that is based on a number field is faster than a PK based on a character field?
I've seen it mentioned a couple of times today under the "Design Question" topic. It doesn't make any sense to me that one or the other would be faster. After all, we are talking about comparison searches within the B-Tree index structure. Why searching down the tree for a number is any faster than a char is lost on me. Just curious if anyone has a reference someplace pointing this out. Thanks Tom Mercadante Oracle Certified (Stupified today) Professional -----Original Message----- Sent: Wednesday, April 17, 2002 2:21 PM To: Multiple recipients of list ORACLE-L If you go with the first option, you will likely be able to get out of joining your STATE table to the referencing tables in a bunch of cases (since the 2-letter abbreviation is interpretable on its own). But if you'll wind up having to do the join anyway (e.g., to display the STATE_DESC) then those joins will likely be faster on a numeric... HTH, -Roy Roy Pardee Programmer/Analyst SWFPAC Lockheed Martin IT Extension 8487 -----Original Message----- Sent: Wednesday, April 17, 2002 10:19 AM To: Multiple recipients of list ORACLE-L To simplify my question, if I am creating a STATE table to hold all the states of the US, should I create it like this... Name Null? Type ----------------------------------------- -------- ---------------------------- STATE_CODE NOT NULL CHAR(2) <-- PK STATE_DESC NOT NULL VARCHAR2(50) or like this... Name Null? Type ----------------------------------------- -------- ---------------------------- STATE_ID NOT NULL NUMBER <-- PK STATE_CODE NOT NULL CHAR(2) STATE_DESC NOT NULL VARCHAR2(50) I'm trying to figure out which is more efficient, STATE_CODE or STATE_ID, when doing a PK lookup, dealing with FKs, etc. Many TIA!!! Chris -- Please see the official ORACLE-L FAQ: http://www.orafaq.com -- Author: Grabowy, Chris INET: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Fat City Network Services -- (858) 538-5051 FAX: (858) 538-5051 San Diego, California -- Public Internet access / Mailing Lists -------------------------------------------------------------------- To REMOVE yourself from this mailing list, send an E-Mail message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (note EXACT spelling of 'ListGuru') and in the message BODY, include a line containing: UNSUB ORACLE-L (or the name of mailing list you want to be removed from). You may also send the HELP command for other information (like subscribing). -- Please see the official ORACLE-L FAQ: http://www.orafaq.com -- Author: Pardee, Roy E INET: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Fat City Network Services -- (858) 538-5051 FAX: (858) 538-5051 San Diego, California -- Public Internet access / Mailing Lists -------------------------------------------------------------------- To REMOVE yourself from this mailing list, send an E-Mail message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (note EXACT spelling of 'ListGuru') and in the message BODY, include a line containing: UNSUB ORACLE-L (or the name of mailing list you want to be removed from). You may also send the HELP command for other information (like subscribing). -- Please see the official ORACLE-L FAQ: http://www.orafaq.com -- Author: Mercadante, Thomas F INET: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Fat City Network Services -- (858) 538-5051 FAX: (858) 538-5051 San Diego, California -- Public Internet access / Mailing Lists -------------------------------------------------------------------- To REMOVE yourself from this mailing list, send an E-Mail message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (note EXACT spelling of 'ListGuru') and in the message BODY, include a line containing: UNSUB ORACLE-L (or the name of mailing list you want to be removed from). You may also send the HELP command for other information (like subscribing).
