"James A. Fortune" wrote in message
...
Sylvain Lafontaine wrote:
I concede the point that for the two keys of the junction table, using
an
autonumber primary key is overkill except for special situations.


Shouldn't a database be designed right from the beginning?


I didn't say overkill doesn't work, did I :-)? I think that until we
delineate the true trade-offs between natural keys and artificial keys,
if any, you should design your schemas/schemata as you deem best. If it
turns out that there are situations where each has advantages then those
situations should determine the correctness of the schema.

I'll go further than that. For most design problems there is more than one
acceptable solution. This is particularly true of schema design. Design
trade-offs will help determine which of two possible designs is better in
any given situation.