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IMO use a UUID + a "type code" so something like: xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxx-xxxx-CUST xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxx-xxxx-ADDR It makes seas of UUIDs much easier to reason abou

IMO use a UUID + a "type code" so something like: xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxx-xxxx-CUST xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxx-xxxx-ADDR It makes seas of UUIDs much easier to reason about Depends on your tolerance of wasted disk space for binary vs char, but you can shorten the binary to base64 or use a record as a primary key if you want. Other advantages of UUIDs: - they can be generated by clients or by the server safely - they can be concurrently and distributedly generated without a central sequence blocking/locking ID generation - they are distinct/unique across system migrations and mergers of systems / data / table - time UUIDs can encode some info about when generated which can help with forensics / debugging in production - no database-specific behavior for sequence generation, no extra database object for the sequence - probably helps with data warehouse / data oceans for keeping data distinct and tracing back to source system - similarly to that, for integrating systems, also makes the ids unique across system boundaries - they are a bit more secure as stated elsewhere

cameronh90 4y ago
For interacting with humans, I rarely expose a UUID directly. I'm not particularly bothered about ugly URLs but I don't work in an industry where SEO is relevant. As you suggest, I sometimes incorporate type information into the ID to convey a bit more context, often in the form of a URL (org.com/customer/xxxxx). If you do need to put a UUID in the UI, depending on the constraints of the application, it might make sense to just display the first group of characters from the UUID and separately handle the very rare collisions you may encounter, similar to git and its short SHAs. For any situation where there will be transcription or copying IDs between systems manually, I will typically add another group that incorporates some metadata about where the ID came from (similar to the type code you mention) and a check digit, but obviously I try to avoid any situation that involves transcribing a UUID.

cameronh90 4y ago

For interacting with humans, I rarely expose a UUID directly. I'm not particularly bothered about ugly URLs but I don't work in an industry where SEO is relevant. As you suggest, I sometimes incorporate type information into the ID to convey a bit more context, often in the form of a URL (org.com/customer/xxxxx). If you do need to put a UUID in the UI, depending on the constraints of the application, it might make sense to just display the first group of characters from the UUID and separately handle the very rare collisions you may encounter, similar to git and its short SHAs. For any situation where there will be transcription or copying IDs between systems manually, I will typically add another group that incorporates some metadata about where the ID came from (similar to the type code you mention) and a check digit, but obviously I try to avoid any situation that involves transcribing a UUID.