Is it ok to use character values for primary keys?

Question

Is there a performance gain or best practice when it comes to using unique, numeric ID fields in a database table compared to using character-based ones?

For instanc

Answer 1

The standard answer is to use numbers because they are faster to index; no need to compute a hash or whatever.

If you use a meaningful value as a primary key you'll have to update it all through you're database if the team name changes.

To satisfy the above, but still make the database directly readable,

• use a number field as the primary key

• immediately create a view Athlete_And_Team that joins the Athlete and Team tables

Then you can use the view when you're going through the data by hand.