On Apr 12, 2008, at 10:34 AM, Todd Benson wrote:
>
> In rails, I should point out I _have_ to use the integer ID for my
> primary key, which irks me to no end because it goes against
> everything I know about set theory.  That whining aside, I might try
> to fix it, but the underlying rails code is intimidating.

no db actually deals with sets - try to do a query and get the results  
back in different order each time.  in practice they are *ordered*  
tuples of key value pairs and every db i've used is written with this  
implicit understanding.  having an id is no different that having an  
'updated_at' field - it simply provides a total ordering which is  
arbitrary.  fighting the id is just swimming upstream to nowhere - i  
know as i did it for a long time.  ;-)

a @ http://codeforpeople.com/
--
we can deny everything, except that we have the possibility of being  
better. simply reflect on that.
h.h. the 14th dalai lama