Question

Using SMALLINT, TINYINT and BIT types

Asked by: adlink_la

Hello Experts,
A few years back, I was attending a .NET course and the instructor mentioned that SMALLINT, TINYINT and BIT datatypes were really subtypes of the INTEGER type.  He said that it is better to just use INTEGER for everything because with the other types, SQL Server has more overhead to manage them and this can degrade performance.  Is there any truth to this?


This Question has been solved and asker verified All Experts Exchange premium technology solutions are available to subscription members.

Subscribe now for full access to Experts Exchange and get

Instant Access to this Solution

  • Plus...
  • 30 Day FREE access, no risk, no obligation
  • Collaborate with the world's top tech experts
  • Unlimited access to our exclusive solution database
  • Never be left without tech help again

Subscribe Now

Asked On
2008-12-09 at 08:37:52ID23969632
Tags

SQL Server 2005

Topic

SQL Server 2005

Participating Experts
2
Points
500
Comments
7

Trusted by hundreds of thousands everyday for fast, accurate and reliable tech support.

  • "The time we save is the biggest benefit of Experts Exchange to Warner Bros. What could take multiple guys 2 hours or more each to find is accessed in around 15 minutes on Experts Exchange." Mike Kapnisakis, Warner Bros.
  • "Our team likes having a resource that is more secure than just using Google and most experts using this service really know their stuff. It's nice to look here first versus using Google." Dayna Sellner, Lockheed Martin
  • "Anytime that I've been stumped with a problem, 9 out of 10 times Experts Exchange has either the accepted solution or an open discussion of the potential solution to the problem." Kenny Red, eBay Inc.

See what Experts Exchange can do for you.

Got a question?

We've got the answer.

Experts Exchange has been collecting answers to technology questions since 1996…3 million and counting! If you have a question, chances are we already have your answer.

Screenshot of Experts Exchange Knowledgebase

Need individual assistance?

Our experts are ready to help.

If you can't find the exact answer you're looking for, ask our exclusive community of 50,000 experts. You’ll get a personalized answer from a trusted professional.

Screenshot of Experts Exchange Knowledgebase

Want to learn from the best?

Read articles from industry experts.

Thousands of free tech tips, tricks, how-to’s and tutorials are available in our peer reviewed articles section. See for yourself how smart our experts are, no login required.

Screenshot of an Article

Working on a long term project?

Store your work and research.

Save solutions to your questions, answers you’ve discovered through searching plus helpful articles in your personal knowledgebase for easy future access.

Screenshot of Experts Exchange Knowledgebase

Access the answers to your technology questions today.

Subscribe Now

30-day free trial. Register in 60 seconds.

What Makes Experts Exchange Unique?

Members of the expert community talk about why the experience at Experts Exchange is different than what you will find anywhere else.

Trusted by the world's most respected brands.

image of each brand's logo

Faithfully serving IT professionals since 1996.

Experts Exchange Logo

Try it out and discover for yourself.

Subscribe Now

30-day free trial. Register in 60 seconds.

Related Solutions

  1. tinyint, smallint, int....
    When should you use tinyint, smallint, or int? I read that if the value will be greater than 10 don't use tinyint, but tinyint is a value that's range goes up to 255. I have many tables that are using int and I want to change them to small int. Once I change them in the...
  2. converting from a string to a tinyint
    Hi, How can I convert a string to a tinyint in vbscripts? I think COnvert.ToInt16 does to smallint, does Convert.ToInt8(mystrvar) look right? Thanks
  3. Question about tinyint, smallint datatype.
    Hi, I just created a table with create table X ( var1 tinyint, var2 smallint) I then check the table properties with sp_help X and what I saw is the var1 column only has length of 1 and var2 has length of 2. I know tinyint is 1 byte so it goes up to 255 and small int i...
  4. Which Data Type to use (bit, tinyint, smallint)?
    I was using a data type of bit, which saved whether a file was approved or not. Well now I need three variances one for Approved, Unapproved, and Disapproved. So do I change the data type to tinyint and just use 0, 1, 2 to represent each value?
  5. signed / unsigned tinyint field issue
    I have a datatype query that is probably a stupid question but will ask anyway. I have a field in my database that is of type TINYINT. I have read up on this and i am allowed the values 0 - 255 correct? Am I able to add a constraint or something to allow negative values s...

Free Tech Articles

  1. WARNING: 5 Reasons why you should NEVER fix a computer for free.
    It is in our nature to love the puzzle. We are obsessed. The lot of us. We love puzzles. We love the challenge. We thrive on finding the answer. We hate disarray. It bothers us deep in our soul. W...
  2. SCCM OSD Basic troubleshooting
    SCCM 2007 OSD is a fantastic way to deploy operating systems, however, like most things SCCM issues can sometimes be difficult to resolve due to the sheer volume of logs to sift through and the dispe...
  3. Migrate Small Business Server 2003 to Exchange 2010 and Windows 2008 R2
    This guide is intended to provide step by step instructions on how to migrate from Small Business Server 2003 to Windows 2008 R2 with Exchange 2010. For this migration to work you will need the fo...
  4. Create a Win7 Gadget
    This article shows you how to create a simple "Gadget" -- a sort of mini-application supported by Windows 7 and Vista. Gadgets can be dropped anywhere on the desktop to provide instant information, ...
  5. Outlook continually prompting for username and password
    There have been a lot of questions recently regarding Outlook prompting for a username and password whilst using Exchange 2007. There are a few reasons why this would happen and I will try to cover t...
  6. Backup Exchange 2010 Information Store using Windows Backup
    There seems to be quite a lot of confusion around the ability to backup Exchange 2010 using the built in Windows Backup feature. This stems from the omission of this feature prior to Exchange 2007 s...

Cloud Class Webinars

  1. Avoiding Bugs in Microsoft Access
    Alison Balter takes and in-depth look at avoiding bugs in Access. In this webinar you will learn about using the immediate window to debug your applications, invoking the debugger, using breakpoints to troubleshoot, stepping through code, setting the next statement to execute, ...
  2. Top 10 Best New Features in Visio 2010
    Scott Helmers gives live demonstrations of the top 10 new features in Visio 2010. This webinar will teach you how to create compelling diagrams by adding shapes to the page with a single click, linking the shapes in a diagram to data in Excel (or SQL Server, or SharePoint), ...
  3. IT Consultant Business Secrets Revealed
    Michael Munger, Experts Exchange tech pro and IT consultant, pulls back the curtain on his very successful businesses and answers question on every IT consultant and business owner should know about. He shares secrets on what he did to solve the 5 most common problems in IT, ...
  4. Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity
    Quest CTO, Mike Billon, gives an overview of the steps involved in building a dunamic disaster recovery plan. Through case studies and an examination of software/hardware tooles for monitoring and testing, you'll gain a better understandin of where you are, where you want ...
  5. Organize Your Visio Diagrams with Containers and Lists
    Scott Helmers uses cross functional flowcharts, wireframe diagrams, data graphic legends and seating charts to teach you: how to ustilize all three new structured diagram components in Visio 2010, the best practices for organizeing shapes in previous version of Visio, how to organize ...
  6. How to Us Objects, Properties, Events and Methods in Microsoft Access
    Alison Dalter gives an in-depbth look at objects, properties, events and methods in Microsoft Access. In this webinar you will learn about using the object browser, referring to objects, working with properties and methods, working with object variables, understanding the ...

Join the Community

Give a Little. Get a Lot.

Join the community of experts here and help other tech pros by answering question in your area of expertise. You can earn FREE access to all Experts Exchange's premium features and resources.

Join the Community

Answers

 

by: EmesPosted on 2008-12-09 at 08:44:17ID: 23130710

 

by: thehagmanPosted on 2008-12-09 at 08:48:50ID: 23130754

INTEGER is the natural data size (on a 32 bit machine) and is therefore best suited for many operations and indeed the smaller interegr types produce a tiny computational overhead. With vast amount of data, however, the speed loss due to data transfer etc. by far outweighs this advantage.

 

by: EmesPosted on 2008-12-09 at 08:56:39ID: 23130838

here is another article.

http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/Performance+Tuning/2753/

I say
You want to design your system correctly you should use the appropriate data types.



 

 

by: EmesPosted on 2008-12-09 at 08:58:30ID: 23130866

 

by: adlink_laPosted on 2008-12-09 at 09:05:10ID: 23130950

Thanks for the reply.  I'm familiar with the datatypes, but that page does not say anything about my question.  I have a few tables that are going to contain on the order of 100 million rows per year.  Space is less of an issue than speed.  I need maximum performance.  The tables will be partitioned by month.  I have also denormalized a couple of columns to eliminate the need for any joins.  What I need to know is, is there a difference in performance when using SMALLINT, TINYINT or BIT as opposed to using INT to contain those values.

Thanks.

 

by: adlink_laPosted on 2008-12-09 at 09:07:51ID: 23130975

Oops.  You guys are getting ahead of me.  My last reply was regarding Emes first repsonse.  Thanks for the rest of the replies.  I will take a look...

 

by: adlink_laPosted on 2008-12-12 at 12:33:54ID: 31524247

Good info guys.  Thanks for the help.  Like anything, I guess it depends on what you are doing.

20120131-EE-VQP-002

3 Ways to Join

30-Day Free Trial

The Experts

98% positive feedback on 31,087 answers since March 2000. angeliii is a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional for his work with MS SQL Server & Develoment.

He has also proven his knowledge of Visual Basic Programming, PHP Scripting and Oracle Databases.

The Experts

97% positive feedback on 10,752 answers since July 2000. lrmoore has more than 18 years experience in the networking industry.

The six-time Mircosoft MVPs specialties include firewalls, virtual private networking, and network management.

Testimonials

"...and excellent source for support... Kind of like having your very own IT dept." Electriciansnet

Testimonials

"I was apprehensive at signing up at first. However... it has already made my life as an IT administrator much easier." JaCrews

Testimonials

"WOW! You guys have great, active, and knowledgeable people on here." moore50

Business Clients

Business Clients

In the Press

"If you’ve got a question... Experts Exchange can supply an answer.”

In the Press

"...an invaluable aid for both IT professionals and those who require tech support."

In the Press

"where IT professionals provide quick answers on just about any topic"

Business Account Plans

Loading Advertisement...