>"...you have to think seriously, for each and every table, what your PK will be.". From all of your other posts you sound like a person who
does think seriously about
most things.
>
>In my opinion it would be the database layout and especially the PKs that deserve (and get, here) the MOST thinking of all.
I prefer surrogate keys for several reasons; the "not having to do additional thinking" part is only one reason - and not the main one.
I agree to everyone on this thread who claims that the other keys ("natural", was that the word?) have advantages, too. Personally, I think the advantages of surrogate keys outweight their disadvantages - but programming can get quite complicated in some cases (joining tables for reports, for instance, was mentioned in another part of this thread).
Hilmar.
Difference in opinions hath cost many millions of lives: for instance, whether flesh be bread, or bread be flesh; whether whistling be a vice or a virtue; whether it be better to kiss a post, or throw it into the fire... (from Gulliver's Travels)
