Natural versus Surrogate Keys. Performance and Usability

Dragos-Paul Pop ()
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Dragos-Paul Pop: Academy of Economic Studies, Bucharest

Database Systems Journal, 2011, vol. 2, issue 2, 55-63

Abstract: Choosing the primary key for a table proves to be one of the most important steps in database design. But what happens when we have to pick between a natural or a surrogate key? Is there any performance issue that we must have in mind? Does the literature have a preferred pick? Is usability a concern? We’ll have a look at the advantages and disadvantages of both natural and surrogate keys and the performance and usability issues they address.

Keywords: primary keys; natural keys; surrogate keys; superkey; candidate key; unique key; performance; usability. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2011
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:aes:dbjour:v:2:y:2011:i:2:p:55-63

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