Re: [GENERAL] Normalized Tables & SELECT [was: Find "smallest common year"]

2007-10-01 Thread Alban Hertroys
Stefan Schwarzer wrote: > >> An entirely different question is whether it is a good idea to write a >> range as a value that the database cannot interpret correctly (referring >> to the '1970-75' notation). You cannot group records by value this way >> if you need to (for example) combine data fro

Re: [GENERAL] Normalized Tables & SELECT [was: Find "smallest common year"]

2007-10-01 Thread Stefan Schwarzer
An entirely different question is whether it is a good idea to write a range as a value that the database cannot interpret correctly (referring to the '1970-75' notation). You cannot group records by value this way if you need to (for example) combine data from '1970' with data from '1970-75'

Re: [GENERAL] Normalized Tables & SELECT [was: Find "smallest common year"]

2007-10-01 Thread Alban Hertroys
Stefan Schwarzer wrote: > > >> BTW, You didn't actually use type text for your year column, did you? No >> quotes needed then. Otherwise you'd have to make sure your year values >> are all the same length or sorting gets... interesting. > > Yep, my comment just before concerns especially this pa

Re: [GENERAL] Normalized Tables & SELECT [was: Find "smallest common year"]

2007-10-01 Thread Stefan Schwarzer
I find it far easier to maintain normalized tables that produced non-normalized ones (for things like data warehousing) than it is to maintain non-normalized tables and trying to produce normalized data from that. Ok, I do understand that. So, instead of the earlier mentioned database design, I

Re: [GENERAL] Normalized Tables & SELECT [was: Find "smallest common year"]

2007-10-01 Thread Stefan Schwarzer
BTW, You didn't actually use type text for your year column, did you? No quotes needed then. Otherwise you'd have to make sure your year values are all the same length or sorting gets... interesting. Yep, my comment just before concerns especially this paragraph, I guess. With not only ye

Re: [GENERAL] Normalized Tables & SELECT [was: Find "smallest common year"]

2007-10-01 Thread Stefan Schwarzer
- one table for the years names/ids/etc. (1970, 1; 1971, 2; 1973, 3; ) If you _do_ need this table (because you want to constrain your statistical data to only contain a specific set of years, or because you need a quick list of available years to select from): Make the year pri

Re: [GENERAL] Normalized Tables & SELECT [was: Find "smallest common year"]

2007-09-28 Thread Stefan Schwarzer
Ah, but there is a standardised list of country-codes ideal for the DBA since the code is (usually) easily understandable. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_3166 The only problem might be if historical data uses old boundaries (e.g. Soviet Union, Yugoslavia). Yep, have all of them (ISO-2, I

Re: [GENERAL] Normalized Tables & SELECT [was: Find "smallest common year"]

2007-09-28 Thread Richard Huxton
Alban Hertroys wrote: If you _do_ need this table (because you want to constrain your statistical data to only contain a specific set of years, or because you need a quick list of available years to select from): Make the year primary key and drop the artificial index. Years are perfectly fine d

Re: [GENERAL] Normalized Tables & SELECT [was: Find "smallest common year"]

2007-09-28 Thread Nis Jørgensen
A few more comments on your table design. Stefan Schwarzer skrev: > So, instead of the earlier mentioned database design, I would have > something like this: > >- one table for the country names/ids/etc. (Afghanistan, 1; Albania, > 2) There is a well-established natural key for countrie

Re: [GENERAL] Normalized Tables & SELECT [was: Find "smallest common year"]

2007-09-28 Thread Alban Hertroys
Stefan Schwarzer wrote: > Ok, I do understand that. > > So, instead of the earlier mentioned database design, I would have > something like this: > >- one table for the country names/ids/etc. (Afghanistan, 1; Albania, > 2) >- one table for the variable names/ids/etc. (GDP, 1; Populati

Re: [GENERAL] Normalized Tables & SELECT [was: Find "smallest common year"]

2007-09-28 Thread Nis Jørgensen
Stefan Schwarzer skrev: >>> What would you recommend for say, 500 global national statistical >>> variables, >>> 500 regional and 500 subregional and 500 global aggregations? Years >>> being >>> covered having something between 10 and 60 years for each of these >>> variables. All available for 240

[GENERAL] Normalized Tables & SELECT [was: Find "smallest common year"]

2007-09-28 Thread Stefan Schwarzer
What would you recommend for say, 500 global national statistical variables, 500 regional and 500 subregional and 500 global aggregations? Years being covered having something between 10 and 60 years for each of these variables. All available for 240 countries/territories. I generally approa