Re: ID field as logical address

Bernard Peek wrote:

>Adding an ID field is only useful if you can reliably link the ID to the
>real person. The traditional way to do this is to tell each person the
>ID that you have created for them and insist that they remember it for
>you. This is how SSNs and payroll numbers work. This system is not
>foolproof.

There is an alternative: keeping the schema such that persons can always be identified based on non-ID fields, either directly within the table (i.e. it has a key that doesn't involve ID fields), or indirectly (i.e. queries to distinguish all persons exist, but may involve multiple tables, even joins over ID fields).

>--
>Bernard Peek

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