>> Actually, most records aren't the same size. The only way they'll all be
>> the same size is if all you columns in the table are fixed size.
>
> I don't know exactly how large databases like Oracle work internally, but at least with dBase, foxPro Access, etc.
> all records are the same size.
> If the records are not the same size, this means relocationg it every time it is updated and becomes larger,
> not really efficient.
Wouldn't that be why you have to compact Access regularly?
> It also means that indexes must contain the physical address to the byte, not only the record #, and this takes more space.
Or they must have a page number and a record number, and look for
the offset in the page header. But with a database that is
limited to a few GB the offset fits in a 32 bit integer anyway
(so I wouldn't be surprised if any savings here are lost in the
byte-alignment anyway).
Jochem
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