--- In ib-support@yahoogroups.com, Helen Borrie <helebor@t...> wrote:

> At 01:57 AM 16/01/2003 +0000, you wrote:
>
> So you can go with the DBMSs that let you blindly define

case-insensitive

> searches for everything and cop the resulting slow searches; or you

can

> design your case-insensitive searches with more attention to
> performance. Where performance is the issue, there is nothing

faster than

> an indexed search on a proxy (aka shadow) column.

.
.

> The argument that Firebird should bend its implementation of
> case-insensitive indexing to align with inferior and less flexible
> implementations in competitor products appears specious to me.

When I read the above comments, there was something about them that
bothered me but I couldn't figure out what it was. Then it finally
dawned on me what this argument reminded me of. For years MySQL users
complained about its lack of referential integrity. MySQL would claim
in their documentation that for the sake of speed, referential
integrity was a bad thing. It was better to force the user to "roll
their own" referential integrity to prevent slowing down the database.
Here's a quote from MySQL documentation:

=======================================================
FOREIGN KEY is sometimes used as a constraint check, but this check is
unnecessary in practice if rows are inserted into the tables in the
right order.

A properly written application will make sure internally that it is
not violating referential integrity constraints before proceding with
a query. Thus, additional checks on the database level will only slow
down performance for such an application.
========================================================

A similar argument is being made here about indexing.
Case-insensitivity slows down the database so the user should create
their own indexing mechanism so as not to impact speed. The lack of
case-insensitivity isn't a shortcoming. Its a feature!

If I want my car to go as fast as possible, I could get better
performance by disconnecting the air conditioner. But I don't need my
car to go as fast as possible. I need it go fast enough to get the job
of transporting me to my destination. Once its able to do that, I'm
willing to trade additional speed for features that provide comfort
and ease-of-use.

If the goal of Firebird developers is to make the fastest possible
database then my suggestions about case-insensitivity should be
ignored. If the goal is to spread the use of Firebird and increase its
base, then you may want to consider that other developers feel the way
I do.

Helen called my suggestions specious. I prefer the term deference to
the common expectations of most database developers.

Darryl