Binary links Re: Question Backlog for Valentina mailing list.

[Ruslan Zasukhin]

On 11/16/05 9:04 PM, "Ed Kleban" <Ed at Kleban.com> wrote:

> Yeah, well, you're making a convert out of me on that approach pretty
> quickly.  I've just finished a first pass at re-diagramming the database I'm
> designing using Binary Links instead of ObjectPtr fields.  It's amazing!
> 
> One question that has come up, is that if I want to associate some type of a
> typeCode that is a small byte constant that identifies the type of an item,
> and I need to access that typeCode all the time for items to do select case
> statements and such, and I also want to keep an anciallary table with
> additional information about that typeCode, then should I:

That is the problem. BinaryLink cannot have associated information.
For this it needs to use old good MM tables.

I still cannot find way how to add this association...effectively.


> 1) Both create a Binary link between item and their typeInfo records, where
> the recID is inherently a representation for the typeCd, and then
> additionally allocate a byte TypeCode field in the item records, under the
> theory that I can grab the typeCode very fast most of the time, and then do
> an indexed lookup by record ID when I occasionally need the extra type
> info...
> 
> or
> 
> 2) Punt the darn typeCode byte in the item record because binary links are
> so blazingly fast in the many to 1 direction that that having a typeCode
> byte would be no faster and just make for messy double book keeping.

If you can put it into ONE table then I think good
 
And keep in mind, right now M to One is not ideal speed.

> or 
> 
> 3) Right idea, but if you really want the blazingly fast connect from the
> typeCode in the item record to the typeInfo record then use a full Ulong for
> the typeCode as an OffsetPtr because Valentina will optimize accesses and be
> more efficient using the ObjectPtr than converting from a byte index.

-- 
Best regards,

Ruslan Zasukhin
VP Engineering and New Technology
Paradigma Software, Inc

Valentina - Joining Worlds of Information
http://www.paradigmasoft.com

[I feel the need: the need for speed]