Scott Marcus
marcus at tsstech.com
Fri Jun 11 11:05:28 CDT 2004
Jim, Great story! Everyone, I'm not arguing the attribute point. I'm arguing about some article that discussed natural keys (like SSN, Serial #) being more natural than an auto-number. Personally, I think the whole "natural key" thing is bogus. A key is a key is a key. We could argue semantics all day long. Add new attributes to make up a key or use existing attributes, makes no difference to me. If you want better performance, you probably should not be thinking multi-attribute key. Anyone have some good examples of the performance side of switching from multi-attribute to single attribute keys? On the flip side, what about dollars saved when switching from one to the other. I would think support cost would be higher on one vs. the other. How about accuracy of the model using both methods (plays into maintaining the application/database) ? Lets at least gain something from the debate... Scott Marcus TSS Technologies, Inc. marcus at tsstech.com (513) 772-7000 -----Original Message----- From: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com [mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of Hale, Jim Sent: Friday, June 11, 2004 11:42 AM To: 'Access Developers discussion and problem solving' Subject: RE: [AccessD] OT: The Great Primary Debate I almost chlorinated the city of Memphis back in the '60s when I worked as a storeroom clerk for a chemical co in high school. I put some nuts I found into what I thought was the correct bin. Turned out they were slightly different (1/64 as I recall). When a chlorine line went down that night the maintenance crew grabbed a handful, replaced a flange and prepared to pressure up the line. Fortunately the crew chief decided something "was not quite right" and changed out the nuts. The next day I had to sit in front of the bin with 20,000 nuts and separate out the bad guys by testiong them one by one on a matching bolt. Yes an arbitrary serial part number once assigned becomes an attribute and I wish the ?##@@$!! nuts had had one! True story. Jim Hale -----Original Message----- From: Stuart McLachlan [mailto:stuart at lexacorp.com.pg] Sent: Friday, June 11, 2004 8:27 AM To: Access Developers discussion and problem solving Subject: RE: [AccessD] OT: The Great Primary Debate On 11 Jun 2004 at 8:28, Scott Marcus wrote: > John, > > If you have a bin full of 20,000 screws (all the same, because that's > what I was saying) you would be an amazing person if I could pick up > anyone of them, show it to you, take it back, put it back in the bin, > mix the bin up, and you could find that same exact screw. > You've obviously never developed any systems for the aircraft industry. You need to track what supplier and manufacture batch any individual screw came from, what aircraft it ended up on and where. You just don't dump 20,000 screws in a bin. :-( -- Lexacorp Ltd http://www.lexacorp.com.pg Information Technology Consultancy, Software Development,System Support. -- _______________________________________________ AccessD mailing list AccessD at databaseadvisors.com http://databaseadvisors.com/mailman/listinfo/accessd Website: http://www.databaseadvisors.com -- _______________________________________________ AccessD mailing list AccessD at databaseadvisors.com http://databaseadvisors.com/mailman/listinfo/accessd Website: http://www.databaseadvisors.com