Re: Fixed width rows faster?

Jeff wrote:
> I'm guessing the answer to this is "no"
>
> Is there any performance advantage to using a fixed width row (with PG)?

No.  The user docs state that the performance is equal for char, varchar
and text.

> I've heard this theory a few times and I think it is based on older,
> different databases

MySQL used to have this issue (I don't know if it still does or not) to
the point that the docs once claimed that an index on a varchar was barely
as fast as a char with no index at all.

> and we have also some custom software here that uses
> fixed width rows to be able to hit row N in O(1), but that isn't what
> I'd call a real database.

Isn't needed in modern versions of Postgres, but I don't know (historically)
if it ever was or not.

--
Bill Moran
Potential Technologies
http://www.potentialtech.com