Re: Insert vs Update

On Wed, Jul 15, 2015 at 12:16 PM, Robert DiFalco <robert(dot)difalco(at)gmail(dot)com>
wrote:

> First off I apologize if this is question has been beaten to death. I've
> looked around for a simple answer and could not find one.
>
> Given a database that will not have it's PKEY or indices modified, is it
> generally faster to INSERT or UPDATE data. And if there is a performance
> difference is it substantial?
>
> I have a situation where I can easily do one or the other to the same
> effect. For example, I have a journaling schema with a limited number of
> "states" for an "entry". Currently each state is it's own table so I just
> insert them as they occur. But I could easily have a single "entry" table
> where the row is updated with column information for states (after the
> entry's initial insertion).
>
> Not a big deal but since it's so easy for me to take either approach I was
> wondering if one was more efficient (for a large DB) than another.
>
>
​There is HOT (heap only tuple?) optimization that can occur if only
non-indexed data is altered. I do not recall the specifics.

Dave
​