[V4RB] difference between string & varchar

[Pedro fp]

On 26/10/2004, at 4:53 PM, Peter De Berdt wrote:

>> I have never quite figured what, for practical purposes, the  
>> difference between a string field & a varchar field is. Even from  
>> what I read in the V4Rb docs they appear to be pretty much the same  
>> except in name. So could someone please explain the difference for me  
>> & offer some guide as to when I should choose one over the other?
>
> A VString field takes up the space of the max length you define, no  
> matter how many characters are actually used. Varchar only uses the  
> space it needs (variable character length), hence the name. Ruslan  
> will probably go more technical on this, but this is the easy  
> explanation ;-)

That is as I thought but it still leaves me unsure about why I'd choose  
one over the other. I take it VVarChar would result in a smaller data  
file, particularly where the string data is highly variable in length  
with a lot of it being a lot smaller than the maximum length, is a  
VString faster?

Cheers, Pedro :-)

Web: <http://www.pedro.net.au>                    PGP Key ID: 387CD96F
Instant messaging...  AIM: bandidoOfOz  ICQ: 27671678  Jabber: pedrofp
                       MSN: mail at pedro.net.au           Yahoo: pedro_fp
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 
~~~
"I think we need more of the wordless in our lives. We need more  
stillness,
more of a sense of wonder, a feeling for the mystery of life. We need  
more
love, more silence, more deep listening, more deep giving."
                                Ben Okri in 'A Way of Being Free', 1997,  
p90