CodingForums.com - View Single Post - Which of these table set ups would make for faster queries?

shaunthomson · 01-26-2013, 01:20 PM

Gidday

I'm setting up basic tagging for a song list system, and thought some experienced input before I go delving into setting up the system would be beneficial.

I'm adding 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s etc, so users can select one to include in the search query.

I'm wondering which would be quicker for queries:

1. assign each decade a number eg 50s = 1, 60s = 2, and store the number in a `decades` column - queries would include eg - "AND `decades` = 3"

or

2. have a char(0) column for each decade, set default to null, and set the relevant column to an empty string, so a query for an 80s search would include "AND `80s` ='' "

Also, just wondering if the amount of columns in a table affect search speed? I have other tags to add (about 50), and if option 2 above is quicker, I was thinking of adding 50 columns using the char(0) method (of which up to four would be queried at any one time).

Thanks for your input.

01-26-2013, 01:20 PM	PM User \| #1
shaunthomson New Coder Join Date: May 2012 Posts: 88 Thanks: 51 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Which of these table set ups would make for faster queries? Gidday I'm setting up basic tagging for a song list system, and thought some experienced input before I go delving into setting up the system would be beneficial. I'm adding 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s etc, so users can select one to include in the search query. I'm wondering which would be quicker for queries: 1. assign each decade a number eg 50s = 1, 60s = 2, and store the number in a `decades` column - queries would include eg - "AND `decades` = 3" or 2. have a char(0) column for each decade, set default to null, and set the relevant column to an empty string, so a query for an 80s search would include "AND `80s` ='' " Also, just wondering if the amount of columns in a table affect search speed? I have other tags to add (about 50), and if option 2 above is quicker, I was thinking of adding 50 columns using the char(0) method (of which up to four would be queried at any one time). Thanks for your input.