[libreoffice-users] Re: Numerical terms used in Base

Am 16.08.2012 00:28, Jay Lozier wrote:
> >
> varchar(60) is a text string up to 60 characters long. I believe the
> actual memory usage is based the number of characters in the string
> char(15) is a text string up to 15 characters long but enough memory is
> always used for 15 characters.
> The length of varchar and char can be set to other lengths.

Then there is VARCHAR_IGNORECASE which is very useful It enforces case 
sensitivity on field level.

> integer is an integer only and can be positive or negative. I did not
> look up the range for Base (-minint to +maxint).

Base uses the specification of the respective database.
For the embedded HSQL that is:
> http://www.hsqldb.org/doc/1.8/guide/ch09.html#datatypes-section

TINYINT is not negative between 0 and 255 (1 byte, 2^8)

> numeric and decimal are floating point numbers of varying precision and
> size. You can specify the number of decimal places as well as the size
> of the number (decimal(10,2) has 10 total places with two decimal
> places) .Some db's use decimal for currency, I am not sure what the
> advantage of numeric versus the other floating numbers such as float and
> double.

The floating point numbers give you the same advantages and 
disadvantages as in spreadsheets which use the "Double" type for 
everything (64 bit, up to 15 free floating decimal digits). You have a 
flexible free floating translation between the stored bits and decimal 
figures. On the other hand you have rounding errors which make 
spreadsheets inadequate for accounting unless you have the skills to 
apply rounding without losing significant data.

 I mostly use MariaDB which does not have the numeric type
> explicitly available. Again you have both positive and negative values.
> I believe numeric is the full possible range while decimal is restricted
> by its initial definition.



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