Re: [HACKERS] varchar() vs char16 performance

Bruce Momjian <maillist@candle.pha.pa.us>

From: Bruce Momjian <maillist@candle.pha.pa.us>
To: t-ishii@sra.co.jp
Cc: lockhart@alumni.caltech.edu, hackers@postgreSQL.org
Date: 1998-03-16T06:24:06Z
Lists: pgsql-hackers
> 
> >I ran some timing tests to check the performance of varchar() vs char16.
> >The results of the test indicate that there is no difference in
> >performance (within the timing scatter of the tests):
> >
> >char16	vc(16)
> > 0.99s	 1.05s	1 row (this measures startup time, not types)
> >39.29s	39.28s	~65000 rows
> >
> >The char2,4,8,16 types seem to have no value-added over the
> >better-supported char(), varchar(), text types; I am considering
> >removing them from the backend, and instead have the parser
> >transparently translate the types into varchar() (or char() - I'm not
> >certain which is a better match for the types) for v6.4. Applications
> >would not have to be changed.
> >
> >Comments?
> 
> Please do not remove char2! Some users uses it for making an array of
> char.
> 
> create table c(c char2[]);
> 
> Seems strange? Yes. Actually what he wanted to do was:
> 
> test=> create table c(c char[]);
> ERROR:  parser: parse error at or near "["

Maybe we just need to fix char[].

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