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tribune
Posting Yak Master
105 Posts |
 Posted - 2005-10-11 : 01:16:59
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| Is it really worth it to specify tinyint, smallint, or regular int in SQL server?It seems like this is a complete waste of time, not to mention exposes possible data type overflows down the road. For example, with ADO.net, you still convert smallint and tinyint to integer data types within your code.I'd like to hear any good arguments in support for distinguishing between these three types in your databases. I can see the bit data type as being very helpful because its a constraint in and of itself.While we're on the subject, does anyone ever use bigint for anything?Its hard to imagine seeing the need to store a number like -2^63 (-9223372036854775808) through 2^63-1 (9223372036854775807).;-) |
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byrmol
Shed Building SQL Farmer
1591 Posts |
Posted - 2005-10-11 : 01:32:09
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| >> Is it really worth it to specify tinyint, smallint, or regular int in SQL server?Yes>> not to mention exposes possible data type overflows down the road.This is a good thing! I'll let you figure out why>> I'd like to hear any good arguments in support for distinguishing between these three types in your databases. 1) To follow your logical model2) To enforce correctness3) To annoy UI developers>>While we're on the subject, does anyone ever use bigint for anything?Yeah for big numbers..DavidMA front-end is something that tries to violate a back-end. |
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Kristen
Test
22859 Posts |
Posted - 2005-10-11 : 05:05:48
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| OK, I'll ask this question and see if it answers your question!:"What's the point of using 4 bytes, in the database, to store a value that is only allowed to be between 1 and 9"?Now ... in the application might I choose to use an INT for working storage? Probably - particularly if it would otherwise involve an implicit cast to INT every time it was added / or otherwise processed.Kristen |
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integers oh my!