3 ms·
>> But, if you store a SSN as say 123-45-6789 your using at least 11 bytes to store a 4 byte number. Plus it gets worse because people inevitably end up writin
by BrentOzar 15y ago
>> But, if you store a SSN as say 123-45-6789 your using at least 11 bytes to store a 4 byte number.
Plus it gets worse because people inevitably end up writing queries that parse the number with dashes, brackets, or other special delimiters. Those queries are CPU-intensive to do on the fly, and with databases like Oracle, DB2, and SQL Server charging by the CPU core, it becomes an expensive proposition as well.