On Sun, Dec 26, 2010 at 8:28 PM, Leslie S Satenstein
<lsatenstein@yahoo.com> wrote:
> In 8.1.1. Integer Types
>
> The ending sentence in the 2nd paragraph reads...
>
> The bigint type should only be used if the integer range is insufficient, because the latter is definitely faster.
>
> Integers are bigger or smaller, the sentence could read better if phrased as follows:
>
> Use regular integers for fast efficient execution. The bigint type should only be used if the integer range is
insufficient.
The original phrasing might be a little too cute in the sense that
"the latter" could be taken to refer to "the integer range" rather
than "the integer data type", but the intended meaning is pretty
obvious in context. I think your revised phrasing is more negative
about bigints than we actually want to be. I think bigints also
provide fast, efficient execution (compare with, say, numeric) but
they are not AS fast as integers.
--
Robert Haas
EnterpriseDB: http://www.enterprisedb.com
The Enterprise PostgreSQL Company