Re: Query performance problem

Kenneth Gonsalves wrote:
> On Thursday 17 Mar 2005 1:50 pm, Phil Daintree wrote:
> 
> 
>>CREATE TABLE chartdetails (
>>    accountcode integer DEFAULT 0 NOT NULL,
>>    period integer DEFAULT 0 NOT NULL,
>>    budget double precision DEFAULT (0)::double precision NOT NULL,
>>    actual double precision DEFAULT (0)::double precision NOT NULL,
>>    bfwd double precision DEFAULT (0)::double precision NOT NULL,
>>    bfwdbudget double precision DEFAULT (0)::double precision NOT
>>NULL );
> 
> 
> although may be not relevant to your question, as i have noticed this 
> before with mysql 'sql', what is the point of having a NOT NULL field 
> that defaults to 0? the whole idea of a NOT NULL field is to have the 
> value filled in compulsorily and having a default of 0 or '' defeats 
> the purpose

Not necessarily. NOT NULL here helps to ensure you can add values 
together without the risk of a null result. There are plenty of "amount" 
columns that should be not-null (total spent, total ordered etc).

--   Richard Huxton  Archonet Ltd