On Tue, Nov 28, 2000 at 05:19:45PM +0100, Zeugswetter Andreas SB wrote:
> > I guess it depends on what you're using it for -- disk space
> > is cheap and
> > abundant anymore, I can see some advantages of having it
> > computed only once
> > rather than X times, where X is the number of SELECTs as that
> > could get
> > costly on really high traffic servers.. Costly not so much for simple
> > computations like that but more complex ones.
>
<snip good arguments about disk space>
As I said in my original post, my understanding of computed fields may
be in error. If they're computed at SELECT time, to avoid creating table
space, then a VIEW is exacly the right solution. However, it's easy to
come up with examples of complex calculations that it would be useful
to cache the results of, in the table. Then, computing at INSERT/UPDATE
is clearly the way to go.
So, having _both_ is the best thing.
Ross