"John D. Burger" <john@mitre.org> writes:
> > If you use a large enough space for the number you can reduce that
> > probability of an accidental collision to much less than that of
> > catastrophic hardware failure at which point it isn't noticably better
> > than having no chance of collisions.
>
> I find the comparison unconvincing - if my hardware crashes, I know it and can
> decide how to recover. If two UIDs collide, my system may silently do
> something that may never be detected.
Alright, say the probability of a cosmic ray flipping one bit (if you're
picky, flipping two or three bits perfectly arranged so ECC ram doesn't detect
it). That would produce similarly subtle and unpredictable behaviour,
especially if it hit in a primary key.
Though I'm inclined to agree. They seem to be a fad with not much reason to
exist.
--
greg