Re: Surrogate keys (Was: enums)

On 1/19/06, Pollard, Mike <mpollard(at)cincom(dot)com> wrote:
> Martijn van Oosterhout wrote:
>
> > Please provides natural keys for any of the following:
> >
> > - A Person
> > - A phone call: (from,to,date,time,duration) is not enough
> > - A physical address
> > - A phone line: (phone numbers arn't unique over time)
> > - An internet account: (usernames not unique over time either)
>
> Ahh, a challenge. Hmm, not sure about all of them, but here goes:
>
> A Person - well, you could use a bit map of their fingerprints, or maybe
> their retinal scan. Of course, that could change due to serious injury.
> Maybe some kind of representation of their DNA?

Unless the person in question happens to be a chimera (yes, they do exist).

;-)

--
Mike Rylander
mrylander(at)gmail(dot)com
GPLS -- PINES Development
Database Developer
http://open-ils.org