The primary key should flow from the question: What uniquely defines a record? Compound primary keys are fairly common (at least in my company's ugly Informix tables). I don't really see a scenario where the entire table represents the primary key though. Primary keys uniquely identify some piece of data....if the entire table is the key, what piece of data is being uniquely identified????
> > From: Gavin Brook [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > > Personally I use an individual primary key myself. In the > > past I have seen oracle databases with two fields as the > > primary key, but never a whole record. The only justification > > I can see for having the whole record as the primary key is > > to save space. Adding an extra column to store a primary key > > requires the space to store it and the storage for the > > sequence. On modern servers storage is not usually a problem, > > particularly with such a small field. On older mainframes, it was. > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Special thanks to the CF Community Suite Gold Sponsor - CFHosting.net http://www.cfhosting.net Message: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=i:4:183716 Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/threads.cfm/4 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=s:4 Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.4 Donations & Support: http://www.houseoffusion.com/tiny.cfm/54
