----- Original Message -----
From: Alan McDonald
To: firebird-support@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Sunday, May 23, 2004 6:21 PM
Subject: RE: [firebird-support] Re: Primary Keys - [was] Database File Size


--- In firebird-support@yahoogroups.com, "Alan McDonald" wrote:
> > But it says something to those who are using UUIDs as PKs - thinking
> that it
> > gives them limitless keys for a 1000 years.
>
> The main attraction of UUIDS, is that they can be generated at
> different sites without collision.
>

If you need to have the client create the PKs, that's true. But for server
created PKs, integers can provide uniqueness without collision too. I am
asked many times about this and in 99% of cases integers will do the job
withou problem for much more than 1000 years.
Alan

You are presuming that all database apps are client-server. There are also distributed systems that can, by nature of their job, have no centralized "server" that is common, but must depend on intermittent merges for synchronization. Any database app that is used for data gathering in a mobile environment, or any system that must be able to function for prolonged periods in the absence of communications to a "central" database.

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