Re: [GENEAL] dynamically changing table - Mailing list pgsql-general

From David Fetter
Subject Re: [GENEAL] dynamically changing table
Date
Msg-id 20090330180406.GH30580@fetter.org
Whole thread Raw
In response to [GENEAL] dynamically changing table  (A B <gentosaker@gmail.com>)
Responses Re: [GENEAL] dynamically changing table  (A B <gentosaker@gmail.com>)
Re: [GENEAL] dynamically changing table  (Sam Mason <sam@samason.me.uk>)
List pgsql-general
On Mon, Mar 30, 2009 at 05:39:19PM +0200, A B wrote:
> Hi,
> In the next project I'm going to have a number of colums in my tables,
> but I don't know how many, they change.

Stop right there.  You need to get some sanity into your project,
either by changing that requirement, or by not using an RDBMS for it.

Cheers,
David.
> They all use integers as
> datatype though.. One day, I get 2 new columns, a week later I loose
> one column, and so on in a random pattern.
>
> I will most likely have a few million rows of data so I just wonder if
> there are any problems with running
> alter table x add column .....
> or
> alter table x drop column .....
>
> Adding a column, will it place data "far away" on the  disc so that
> select * from x where id=y will result in not quite optimal
> performance since it has to fetch columns from a lot of different
> places?
> Will deleting a column result in a lot of empty space that will anoy
> me later on?
>
> Are there any other clever solutions of this problem?
>
> --
> Sent via pgsql-general mailing list (pgsql-general@postgresql.org)
> To make changes to your subscription:
> http://www.postgresql.org/mailpref/pgsql-general

--
David Fetter <david@fetter.org> http://fetter.org/
Phone: +1 415 235 3778  AIM: dfetter666  Yahoo!: dfetter
Skype: davidfetter      XMPP: david.fetter@gmail.com

Remember to vote!
Consider donating to Postgres: http://www.postgresql.org/about/donate

pgsql-general by date:

Previous
From: A B
Date:
Subject: Re: [GENEAL] dynamically changing table
Next
From: Michael Black
Date:
Subject: FW: [GENEAL] dynamically changing table