If you don't use natural keys, how do you know if you have duplicate records in your database? How do you UPSERT? A UUID won't help you here (unless created as

If you don't use natural keys, how do you know if you have duplicate records in your database? How do you UPSERT? A UUID won't help you here (unless created as a hash of natural data). > Then you may end up having to restructure the entire database, which will be a very annoying thing to do. Well, you might call it annoying, I may call it a good upfront design requirement. Yes, you have sometimes spend time on stuff that doesn't immediately pay off, but it will pay in the longer run. If you have a problem with your natural keys, this is mostly due to missing or misunderstanding your requirements, or an incomplete domain design. You can of course just sweep stuff under the rug, and pretend it's not there, but it's not a maintainable strategy. (Unless you are a consultant of course, with a fixed term assignment on a project - in which case it is an excellent strategy for yourself...)