The number vs. letter debate is for greater minds than mine. However, I can
not keep myself from commenting on Mr. Bateman's description of how to use
letters if you choose that path. He writes: "Since there are only 26 letters
in the alphabet, the first 26 parts would be a-z, then aa-zz, then aaa-ccc.
"
If you want a sequence, the above may not be what you want to do.
Consider the base 10 number system we use.
You count "0 - 1" then "10, 11, 12, ... 19" then "20, 21, 22, ... 29".
You would not count "0 - 1" then "00, 11, 22, ... 99" then "000, 111, 222,
... 999"
Think of the 26 character alphabet as a base 26 number system.
After "A-Z" would come "AA, AB, AC, ... AZ" then "BA, BB, BC, ... BZ", etc..
In regards using upper or lower case letters. legibility is of course
important when labeling. You may also need to consider if upper and lower
case are differentiated by your collections management application. Most
database systems are, or can be configured to be, case insensitive. This
means that "a" = "A", as far as the DBMS is concerned. So, you would not
want to rely on letter casing to ensure a unique ID for each item. It is
probably safest to assume that "2009.1.1a" = "2009.1.1A".
Finally, don't let your software application dictate your numbering system.
Most of the collections management products on the market are designed to
support any numbering approach you see fit to use, as they should be. If the
software you use does not accommodate the numbering system you want, or
need, to use, find another application that does.
Scott Thomas
Sr. Application Analyst
Questor Systems, Inc.
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