4 ms·

If you want to learn how UUIDs work, implement the standard.

artursapek 9y ago
This isn't about UUIDs. I think the project creator in the OP was just learning lower level things like working with randomness and bytes... I don't see the problem. Experimenting is fun. Leave them alone.
- scient 9y ago
  A bad a excuse for a bad library. See this time and time again in NodeJS though.
  - dchest 9y ago
    This is a good library.
    - rootlocus 9y ago
      However pretty, I wouldn't use something non-standard for generating IDs unless I was doing something embedded which required careful memory management under hardware constraints, where I most definitely wouldn't be using JS.
      - dchest 9y ago
        What? It's just a random string of letters. Don't be afraid of using random strings of letters! You don't need a standard for that.
      - rootlocus 9y ago
        @dchest So you frequently use varchar for your table index?
        dchest 9y ago
        Why do you need VARCHAR? If you use SQL, you can use a fix char type to store fixed-length random strings as IDs. If you use SQL which supports native UUID type, sure, go ahead and use it. But the world is not limited to SQL databases or even any databases. In three project I'm working on right now, two identify objects by content HMAC (one of them uses an SQL database), the other uses a mix of incrementing integers and a random string for different use cases.
        rootlocus 9y ago
        > two identify objects by content HMAC (one of them uses an SQL database), the other uses a mix of incrementing integers and a random string for different use cases. If those two are using SHA-1, like git, you are still using a standard. The third one however sounds like a potential mess.
        dchest 9y ago
        If those two are using SHA-1, like git, you are still using a standard Lovely, so I can officially claim I use a standard that is required by many commenters here if I just hash random bytes! Should I use a NIST-approved standard or maybe GOST hash function will work? Can I use the output of ChaCha20? If so, I'll be happy to read 16 bytes from /dev/urandom. The third one however sounds like a potential mess. Thanks for your analysis!
        rootlocus 9y ago
        > Lovely, so I can officially claim I use a standard that is required by many commenters here if I just hash random bytes! Stop pretending that you don't understand what a cryptological hash function is, or that using a strong crypto function is the same as rolling your own, or that using the hash function on your input is the same as running it on random bytes. > Thanks for your analysis! Thanks for the anecdotal evidence.
- bmn__ 9y ago
  The problem is pollution. That's extremely unfun. Experiments should stay on the developer's personal git repo, but they should not be uploaded to the common code repos as a package. (Maybe into the Acme namespace¹ so that's clear that this code is not serious/can be safely ignored, but unfortunately npm does not support that.) ¹ https://softwareengineering.stackexchange.com/a/221954 https://softwareengineering.stackexchange.com/a/221954
- rootlocus 9y ago
  I experiment all the time in my spare time. But I don't write blog posts and publish to npm.

This isn't about UUIDs. I think the project creator in the OP was just learning lower level things like working with randomness and bytes... I don't see the problem. Experimenting is fun. Leave them alone.

scient 9y ago
A bad a excuse for a bad library. See this time and time again in NodeJS though.
- dchest 9y ago
  This is a good library.
  - rootlocus 9y ago
    However pretty, I wouldn't use something non-standard for generating IDs unless I was doing something embedded which required careful memory management under hardware constraints, where I most definitely wouldn't be using JS.
    - dchest 9y ago
      What? It's just a random string of letters. Don't be afraid of using random strings of letters! You don't need a standard for that.
    - rootlocus 9y ago
      @dchest So you frequently use varchar for your table index?
      - dchest 9y ago
        Why do you need VARCHAR? If you use SQL, you can use a fix char type to store fixed-length random strings as IDs. If you use SQL which supports native UUID type, sure, go ahead and use it. But the world is not limited to SQL databases or even any databases. In three project I'm working on right now, two identify objects by content HMAC (one of them uses an SQL database), the other uses a mix of incrementing integers and a random string for different use cases.
        rootlocus 9y ago
        > two identify objects by content HMAC (one of them uses an SQL database), the other uses a mix of incrementing integers and a random string for different use cases. If those two are using SHA-1, like git, you are still using a standard. The third one however sounds like a potential mess.
        dchest 9y ago
        If those two are using SHA-1, like git, you are still using a standard Lovely, so I can officially claim I use a standard that is required by many commenters here if I just hash random bytes! Should I use a NIST-approved standard or maybe GOST hash function will work? Can I use the output of ChaCha20? If so, I'll be happy to read 16 bytes from /dev/urandom. The third one however sounds like a potential mess. Thanks for your analysis!
        rootlocus 9y ago
        > Lovely, so I can officially claim I use a standard that is required by many commenters here if I just hash random bytes! Stop pretending that you don't understand what a cryptological hash function is, or that using a strong crypto function is the same as rolling your own, or that using the hash function on your input is the same as running it on random bytes. > Thanks for your analysis! Thanks for the anecdotal evidence.
bmn__ 9y ago
The problem is pollution. That's extremely unfun. Experiments should stay on the developer's personal git repo, but they should not be uploaded to the common code repos as a package. (Maybe into the Acme namespace¹ so that's clear that this code is not serious/can be safely ignored, but unfortunately npm does not support that.) ¹ https://softwareengineering.stackexchange.com/a/221954 https://softwareengineering.stackexchange.com/a/221954
rootlocus 9y ago
I experiment all the time in my spare time. But I don't write blog posts and publish to npm.