Rails 2.1 and mysql's mediumint

Rails
1

Hi there,

Browsing the activerecord-2.1.0 source code I found the following:

    case limit
    when 0..3
      "smallint(#{limit})"
    when 4..8
      "int(#{limit})"
    when 9..20
      "bigint(#{limit})"
    else
      'int(11)'
    end

The mysql adapter of activerecord is now able to use more appropriate
data types for integers! Finally! That’s awesome!

However, where is the mediumint data type? Numbers with length of 5 and
6 should be stored as a mediumint in order to obtain optimal performance
from mysql.

Shouldn’t this be fixed somehow? I’m considering applying a patch myself
(however, I don’t know how yet), but I thought I’d hear you guys out
first…

Thanks in advance.

2

Anyone?

Maybe I should post question somewhere else. If you got an idea to where
it would be wise to post please let me know.

3

Better yet: write a patch. I think you can see what to do :wink:

James

On Jun 16, 1:40 pm, Rasmus N. [email protected]

4

On 16 Jun 2008, at 18:40, Rasmus N. wrote:

Anyone?

Maybe I should post question somewhere else. If you got an idea to
where
it would be wise to post please let me know.

the rubyonrails-core list or the rails-contrib irc channel are good
places for questions about the development of rails itself etc…

Fred

5

James H. wrote:

Better yet: write a patch. I think you can see what to do :wink:

James

On Jun 16, 1:40�pm, Rasmus N. [email protected]
Consider it done! :slight_smile:
#432 mysql adapter with mediumt support - Ruby on Rails - rails

This is my first open source contribution ever. Woohoo! I wonder if it
is any good :slight_smile:

6

May I ask as to what the advantage is of using mediumint’s to just
regular
ints? Is it disk space or something more sinister?

7

Ryan B. wrote:

May I ask as to what the advantage is of using mediumint’s to just
regular
ints? Is it disk space or something more sinister?

Mediumtints requires dramatically less disk space. The main advantage is
that this allows mysql to hold more rows in memory which boosts
performance.

Using the right data types is crucial for larger databases…