Re: Performance using dates with SQL or RPG

 >> I read an article about performance using files with date/timestamps
fields

In my opinion I've only ever read one article on the use of dates that made
any sense at all and that was also published by Midrange back in '98? - it
was by Pence and Hawkins - sorry I can't find an actual date reference for
you.  They explained the whole thing including the performance aspects.

In my opinion the article you referenced, along with others that went
before it, completely misses the point (not to mention problems in other
areas).

Yes - it takes longer to read a file containing dates.  How much longer?
Well how long does it take you to recover from a batch run that failed due
to an invalid date on the file?  Won't happen when using dates! How much
longer did all of your other programs take to run when they used numerics
and the dates had to be validated and edited every time you input to output
them.  How long did it take you to explain to a user how to formulate a
query in an end-user reporting tool to handle date ranges on an MDY date.
etc. etc. etc.

Ignore this article - you did the right thing in using dates - if you have
a performance issue with specific batch programs it can normally be dealt
with by coding logical that excludes the date fields or presents them as
numerics (Pence and Hawkins covered this in one of their date related
pieces).


As I said - my opinion - others mileage may vary!


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