Should I have a dedicated primary key field?

Question

I\'m designing a small SQL database to be used by a web application.

Let\'s say a particular table has a Name field for which no two rows will be allowed to have the

Answer 1

If you're living in the rarefied circles of theoretical mathematicians (like C. Date does in the-land-where-there-are-no-nulls, because all data values are known and correct), then primary keys can be built from the components of the data that identify the idealized platonic entity to which you are referring (i.e. name+birthday+place of birth+parent's names), but in the messy real world "synthetic keys" that can identify your real-world entities within the context of your database are a much more practical way to do things. (And nullable fields can be very useful to. Take that, relational-design-theory people!)