Managing Data with Microsoft® Excel

Using Labels Instead of Codes

Traditionally, true databases have used numeric codes instead of text labels for fields that can take on only a fairly restricted set of values. For example, the label “Ford” might be represented by the number 1, “Chrysler” by the number 2, and “Toyota” by the number 3.

This approach had a special advantage when the availability of storage media was at a premium. If you have 1,000 records, you can store 1,000 byte values (1, 2, or 3, for example) in 1000 bytes. But if you store the car make in a text field, the value “Chrysler” forces that field to be at least seven characters—8 bytes, or 8000 bytes for 1,000 records. Years ago, that was a significant amount of space.

The idea—just as in chess—was to trade time for ...