Re: array vs flat tables performance

this is just for closure.

the array is actually stored as a string by postgres. a string that
happens to have lots of brackets in it. you only get processing overhead
when you convert this string into a datastructure that makes sense for
arrays.

Oren

On Mon, 29 Aug 2005 14:43:30 -0400, Oren Mazor <oren(dot)mazor(at)gmail(dot)com>
wrote:

> I'm about to add another table to the project I'm working on and the
> suggested plan of action is to use arrays. Since performance is an
> issue, I'm wondering, what exactly is the difference?
>
> in other words, I could have a flat table such as:
>
> UID1 - ITEM1
> UID1 - ITEM2
> UID1 - ITEM3
> UID7 - ITEM12
>
> or I could use arrays:
>
> UID1 - {ITEM1,ITEM2,ITEM3}
> UID7 - {ITEM12}
>
> is the latter simply syntactic sugar for the former?
>
> thanks
> Oren
>

--
Oren Mazor // Developer, Sysadmin, Explorer
GPG Key: http://www.grepthemonkey.org/secure
"Ut sementem feceris, ita metes"