she then concludes that these results should all but put the nail in the coffin on integers vs naturals keys.  This is NOT a valid conclusion to...

They use previously "frozen" balances and then calculate what the current transactions are and do the math on the previous balance.

Agreed.  Most balances with which I've worked have opening and...

've had the same bank account for more than 20 years.  I'd hate to have to wait for them to compute a balance every time.

A balance is one of those...

Are you striping your backups?  I had a greater than 1TB database and changed it to striped backups.  It knocked both the backup and restore time in half.  That might...

I used this link and found the article with no issues: https://sqlinthewild.co.za/index.php/2011/02/15/are-int-joins-faster-than-string-joins-2/

The really hard part is getting people to agree that there is not always a natural key to be had and that those natural keys that seem adequate are frequently...

• This reply was modified 4 years, 8 months ago by  RonKyle.

The article certainly isn't about CHAR v.s. VARCHAR v.s. INT PKs. She wisely picked an example that's not only common and, sometimes, hotly contested, but one that's incredibly simple and...

I'm not entirely clear on what you are hiding and why.  I have hidden accounts under similar circumstances using the permissions boxes to hide certain members.  There is subsequently a...

These are some of the same principles I learned doing staff work in the Army.

I dislike them as PKs and I believe using a surrogate is a better choice. Why? If I do change something, I'm not changing it in many places, which is...

• This reply was modified 4 years, 8 months ago by  RonKyle. Reason: Added quotes

You go ahead and do your de duplication that will inevitably occur with some surrogate only keys.  I've seen these results many times.  I have yet to see a state...

This is one reason I dislike many natural keys as PKs.

I don't understand how this follows from the discussion..  First, there's not a whole lot of cases where there is...

OH is actually an alfa surrogate for Ohio.  And SSN is a semi-arbitrary surrogate key that originally carried some geographic information but not so much any more.

This is not according...

• This reply was modified 4 years, 8 months ago by  RonKyle. Reason: Missing punctuation

Ok, let me clarify "keys vs data" since I seem to have annoyed the purists.

I am not a purist, but a practicalist.  That may not be a real word, but...

A few comments:

1. I often need to use incrementing integers as a primary key.  However, that is never my first choice.  I have seen incrementing integers used for state tables,...