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  3. Table column count competition

Table column count competition

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  • V Vasily Tserekh

    I have a table in the application i am developing of 155 columns i dare anyone to beat me:mad: ps. the table is already in 3rd normal form

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    Ennis Ray Lynch Jr
    wrote on last edited by
    #18

    Move it to the fourth normal and get rid of the nulls.

    Need custom software developed? I do custom programming based primarily on MS tools with an emphasis on C# development and consulting. I also do Android Programming as I find it a refreshing break from the MS. "And they, since they Were not the one dead, turned to their affairs" -- Robert Frost

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    • V Vasily Tserekh

      I have a table in the application i am developing of 155 columns i dare anyone to beat me:mad: ps. the table is already in 3rd normal form

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      Jeremy Hutchinson
      wrote on last edited by
      #19

      We have a table with 289 columns. It's in our insurance reserves calculating database, and I have no idea what the table actually does, and I don't think I want to know (there are 7 tables with more than 140 columns)

      My Blog[^] Chess Tactics for WP7[^]

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      • P PIEBALDconsult

        GuyThiebaut wrote:

        required for each row

        GuyThiebaut wrote:

        medical database

        I'm not convinced -- if the table had columns for right and left arm etc., what did you do for patients with missing arms? Leave NULLs? I'd prefer to have different tables for different body parts. :-D

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        GuyThiebaut
        wrote on last edited by
        #20

        Yes there are better ways of representing the data - it all depends on what you are going to do with it. If you are just looking at a simple full table scan then a wide row can be the best approach. The difficulty is that when you design your tables inevitably six months later there will be a better way to store the data based on how you now want to query it. In the end you just do the best you can with the information you have at the time and rely on the database engine to do the optimisation for you later - if things get really slow you can always de-normalise your data...

        “That which can be asserted without evidence, can be dismissed without evidence.”

        ― Christopher Hitchens

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        • V Vasily Tserekh

          I have a table in the application i am developing of 155 columns i dare anyone to beat me:mad: ps. the table is already in 3rd normal form

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          Lost User
          wrote on last edited by
          #21

          Vasily Tserekh wrote:

          I have a table in the application i am developing of 155 columns i dare anyone to beat me:mad:
          ps. the table is already in 3rd normal form

          155 attributes, all depending on the same key? And none that depend on a part of the key? No repeating groups? All atomic values? Show me :)

          Bastard Programmer from Hell :suss:

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          • V Vasily Tserekh

            I have a table in the application i am developing of 155 columns i dare anyone to beat me:mad: ps. the table is already in 3rd normal form

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            Mycroft Holmes
            wrote on last edited by
            #22

            I needed to supply some data to a stress test system using SQL 2005, ran out of columns when I hit 1200, I was hoping to create a temp table with 3.6k columns because I could then use my nifty table to CSV utility. Devised a different strategy. I have seen many systems with over 200 columns in a table, usually legacy apps that migrated from power users to core system somehow.

            Never underestimate the power of human stupidity RAH

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            • V Vasily Tserekh

              I have a table in the application i am developing of 155 columns i dare anyone to beat me:mad: ps. the table is already in 3rd normal form

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              Matt Gullett
              wrote on last edited by
              #23

              We have plenty of 3rd normal tables with more than 1024 columns (they are split across multiple tables). Market research surveys have a large number of data points sometimes.

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              • L Lost User

                Vasily Tserekh wrote:

                I have a table in the application i am developing of 155 columns i dare anyone to beat me:mad:
                ps. the table is already in 3rd normal form

                155 attributes, all depending on the same key? And none that depend on a part of the key? No repeating groups? All atomic values? Show me :)

                Bastard Programmer from Hell :suss:

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                Vasily Tserekh
                wrote on last edited by
                #24

                its an inspection form and every value its a part of the inspection list

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                • V Vasily Tserekh

                  its an inspection form and every value its a part of the inspection list

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                  Lost User
                  wrote on last edited by
                  #25

                  That's not an argument. I can show you a lot forms crammed with unrelated data - I want to see 155 attributes in 3NF, and them being in the same form doesn't necessarily mean that they should be in the same table. Simply listing their names will do :)

                  Bastard Programmer from Hell :suss:

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                  • E Ennis Ray Lynch Jr

                    Move it to the fourth normal and get rid of the nulls.

                    Need custom software developed? I do custom programming based primarily on MS tools with an emphasis on C# development and consulting. I also do Android Programming as I find it a refreshing break from the MS. "And they, since they Were not the one dead, turned to their affairs" -- Robert Frost

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                    Lost User
                    wrote on last edited by
                    #26

                    If it's that easy, then why do we rarely see a decently normalized database? OT; From the third, you'd go to BCNF. I don't see much added value in removing the optional fields.

                    Bastard Programmer from Hell :suss:

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                    • G GuyThiebaut

                      Erm... :^) One database I worked on had a table that had to be split into two as there were more than 255 columns that were required for each row.... It's not as rare as it may sound particularly when you are dealing with something as complex as the human body(it was a medical database). That said - I am sure there are better ways of representing data than having so many columns populated for each row...

                      “That which can be asserted without evidence, can be dismissed without evidence.”

                      ― Christopher Hitchens

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                      TheRealRarius
                      wrote on last edited by
                      #27

                      I just looked in the standatd demo database for Sage 200 accounts... There are four tables with over 100 columns and one with 427! This table is called setup and stores one record containing a load of the system settings for the application. God I love (not) Sage!

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                      • T TheRealRarius

                        I just looked in the standatd demo database for Sage 200 accounts... There are four tables with over 100 columns and one with 427! This table is called setup and stores one record containing a load of the system settings for the application. God I love (not) Sage!

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                        GuyThiebaut
                        wrote on last edited by
                        #28

                        I take it there is a good data dictionary for these settings columns?

                        “That which can be asserted without evidence, can be dismissed without evidence.”

                        ― Christopher Hitchens

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                        • G GuyThiebaut

                          I take it there is a good data dictionary for these settings columns?

                          “That which can be asserted without evidence, can be dismissed without evidence.”

                          ― Christopher Hitchens

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                          TheRealRarius
                          wrote on last edited by
                          #29

                          This table isn't even mentioned in the database documentation. All the settings should be accessed through a .Net wrapper library, which helpfully renames some of the fields for no apparent reason.

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