>Another thing: using integers as primary keys gives complex queries an inherent speed boost. This alone is enough argument to use surrogates.
After an example presented by Daniel Rouleau in another thread, I have changed my position to use surrogate keys most of the time, not all. He presented what I consider a good example of when to use intelligent keys.
And one problem with integers, at least in SQL Server 7, is that you only have around 2 billion. This works fine for most situations (at least mine), but what happens after that? I think this changes in SQL Server 200.
Chris McCandless
Red Sky Software