Re: Insert vs Update

On Wed, Jul 15, 2015 at 3:16 PM, Robert DiFalco <robert(dot)difalco(at)gmail(dot)com>
wrote:

> The different event types have differing amounts of related data.
>

​On this basis alone I would select the multiple-table version as my
baseline and only consider something different if the performance of this
was insufficient and I could prove that an alternative arrangement was more
performant.

A single optional date with meta-data embedded in the column name​

​is usually workable but if you then have a bunch of other columns with
name like:

preparation_date, preparation_col1, preparation_col2, consumed_col1,
consumed_col2, consumed_date
​

​I would find that to be undesirable.

You may be able to put Table Inheritance to good use here...

I do not know (but doubt) if HOT optimization works when going from NULL to
non-NULL since the former is stored in a bitmap while the later occupies
normal relation space and thus the update would likely end up writing an
entirely new​ record upon each event category recording.

David J.