> On Mar 21, 2020, at 1:13 PM, Peter J. Holzer <hjp-pgsql@hjp.at> wrote:
>
> On 2020-03-21 12:55:33 -0600, Rob Sargent wrote:
>> To me the description of the ID smacks of database-in-the-name folly. I
>> recognize that OP is likely unable to take another path. I’ll not push this any
>> further.
>
> Identifiers often have internal structure. In Austria for example, the
> social security number contains the birth date. Invoice numbers, project
> numbers or court case numbers often contain the year.
>
> That's because they are used by *people*, and people like their
> identifiers to make some kind of sense. The computer doesn't care.
Since OP said this was digital not paper, I see this as a presentation problem bleeding into database design (assuming
yourresponse was an invitation to push further).
