RE: Timestamps

We have 3 AS400s, (720/170/400), and I ran a test, Create 1,000,000 records
with two fields, UUID, (Universal Unique ID - 16A), and Time Stamp.  When
combining the three files, I had duplicate time stamps but not duplicate
UUIDs.  Can an 24 way 850, with a zillion disk arms, write more than one
record a nano second?  Perhaps the next generation will.

Christopher K. Bipes    mailto:ChrisB@Cross-Check.com
Sr. Programmer/Analyst  mailto:Chris_Bipes@Yahoo.com
CrossCheck, Inc.        http://www.cross-check.com
6119 State Farm Drive   Phone: 707 586-0551 x 1102
Rohnert Park CA  94928  Fax: 707 586-1884

If consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, only geniuses work here.
Karen Herbelin - Readers Digest 3/2000

-----Original Message-----
From: Eric N. Wilson [mailto:doulos1@home.com]
Sent: Wednesday, November 22, 2000 7:33 AM
To: RPG400-L
Subject: Re: Timestamps


Hello,

Using the API is a bit of overkill in most situations. Doing the Time
opcode into a timestamp field gives you everything but the last 3
digits of the timestamp... Which I believe to be the same result as
the API.

Using a logical file with the time stamp omitted is the only way I
know of to actually get the last three digits of the timestamp...

Even if a person were able to get the last three digits of a timestamp
there will come a day when more than one record will be able to be
added in that interval (Trust me it will especially if you rely on a
timestamp to be your unique key). There has been discussion on the
validity of using timestamps and methods of retrieving them recently
and should be accessible via the search facilities.

A approach that may be more viable is to use a UUID as has also been
discussed recently. The value is not pretty to the eyes, but unique
keys should not have any embedded meaning (other than to uniquely
identify a record) in my opinion.

Wednesday, November 22, 2000, 12:43:38 AM, you wrote:
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