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SQLServerDBA_Dan
Aged Yak Warrior
752 Posts |
 Posted - 2005-11-09 : 08:29:55
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| Why would one choose decimal over numeric? Lets assume this is a new database and none of the tables have been defined yet. |
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madhivanan
Premature Yak Congratulator
22864 Posts |
Posted - 2005-11-09 : 08:33:18
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| Read the difference between them in Books On Line, SQL Server help fileMadhivananFailing to plan is Planning to fail |
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spirit1
Cybernetic Yak Master
11752 Posts |
Posted - 2005-11-09 : 08:34:36
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from BOLdecimal and numeric:decimal - Fixed precision and scale numeric data from -10^38 +1 through 10^38 –1. numeric - Functionally equivalent to decimal. so whatever you like best. i use decimal... more intuitive.Go with the flow & have fun! Else fight the flow  |
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SQLServerDBA_Dan
Aged Yak Warrior
752 Posts |
Posted - 2005-11-09 : 08:45:16
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quote:
Originally posted by madhivanan
Read the difference between them in Books On Line, SQL Server help fileMadhivananFailing to plan is Planning to fail
Spirit1 beat me to it. Lol. Of course I checked BOL before posting. They're the same! I just didnt know if one came first and would be phased out in a future version of SQL Server. I figured one was there because they carried over from sybase.edit: And the fact that they are the same is where my problem comes from. Why have both. I understand the need for redundancy but not for datatypes.  Thanks. |
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spirit1
Cybernetic Yak Master
11752 Posts |
Posted - 2005-11-09 : 09:10:35
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http://www.intelligententerprise.com/000626/celko.jhtmlgives this:The difference between DECIMAL(s,p) and NUMERIC(s,p) is subtle in the SQL-92 Standard -- DECIMAL(s,p) must be exactly as precise as declared, while NUMERIC(s,p) must be at least as precise as declared. The Sybase and SQL Server family treats them the same....NUMERIC(s,p) looks like the Oracle proprietary NUMBER(s,p) declarations. but why have both... beats me...Go with the flow & have fun! Else fight the flow |
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SQLServerDBA_Dan
Aged Yak Warrior
752 Posts |
Posted - 2005-11-09 : 09:14:42
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| I found this comment on codeproject and I'll take it as an answer."On SQL Server, decimal and numeric are one and the same. My guess is that numeric came first, and when the SQL-92 standard came around, which uses the name decimal for the same kind of type, SQL Server adopted it as a synonym."Thanks. |
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SQLServerDBA_Dan
Aged Yak Warrior
752 Posts |
Posted - 2005-11-09 : 09:20:09
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quote:
Originally posted by spirit1
http://www.intelligententerprise.com/000626/celko.jhtmlgives this:The difference between DECIMAL(s,p) and NUMERIC(s,p) is subtle in the SQL-92 Standard -- DECIMAL(s,p) must be exactly as precise as declared, while NUMERIC(s,p) must be at least as precise as declared. The Sybase and SQL Server family treats them the same....NUMERIC(s,p) looks like the Oracle proprietary NUMBER(s,p) declarations. but why have both... beats me...Go with the flow & have fun! Else fight the flow
Thanks for the article that was pretty good. My favorite line was:"The moron that declared columns to be FLOAT in a commercial system is probably a C programmer who does not understand rounding errors" |
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decimal vs numeric?