TELECOM Digest OnLine - Sorted: Re: Leading Zeros?

Re: Leading Zeros?

Barry Margolin (barmar@alum.mit.edu)
Thu, 17 Feb 2005 22:43:23 -0500

In article <telecom24.73.19@telecom-digest.org>, AES
<siegman@stanford.edu> wrote:

> Thanks for replies on this issue. No one said what I was hoping someone
> would tell me, however, namely that avoiding the use of leading zeros
> was a well-known design principle. Advice like

> "As a matter of good application design (or at least, if you'd just
> as soon avoid all kinds of unnecessary complications) don't design
> a system that employs labels, or ID numbers, or "article numbers"
> in which leading zeros are significant or even necessary"

> still seems to me a sensible choice, however.

That's fine advice to the people designing the labeling system in the
first place. But if you're implementing a database that manages data
from a preexisting schema, you don't usually have the luxury of
changing the way ID numbers are assigned. If the system already makes
use of significant leading zeroes, you have to accomodate that.

Barry Margolin, barmar@alum.mit.edu
Arlington, MA
*** PLEASE post questions in newsgroups, not directly to me ***

Post Followup Article Use your browser's quoting feature to quote article into reply
Go to Next message: Dave Close: "Re: Leading Zeros?"
Go to Previous message: bdauriol@cs.utep.edu: "CFP: Extended Deadline: The 2005 Conference on Communications"
May be in reply to: AES: "Leading Zeros?"
Next in thread: Dave Close: "Re: Leading Zeros?"
TELECOM Digest: Home Page