Difference between Decimal and Numeric data types?

chulett · Post by **chulett** » Mon Feb 23, 2004 2:35 pm

Someone asked me this today and :oops:

I couldn't provide a coherent answer. Can someone help out with the difference in a Server Job if one defines a field as Decimal versus Numeric? Is there any? Does it depend on the underlying O/S and is a matter of precision?

ray.wurlod · Post by **ray.wurlod** » Mon Feb 23, 2004 3:16 pm

DataStage (and UniVerse) treat DECIMAL and NUMERIC as synonyms. They refer to a numeric data type with a fixed number of decimal places.

chulett · Post by **chulett** » Mon Feb 23, 2004 3:22 pm

Thanks! Good to know we have two different data types that aren't different at all.

Any idea if it makes a difference to some of the passive stages, say like OCI?

kcbland · Post by **kcbland** » Mon Feb 23, 2004 3:47 pm

DataStage has to map multiple disparate data types into its own generic data types. This holds true for both inbound and outbound data. That's why it's so important to use the source and target imported metadata rather than make it up or attempt to use source metadata for a target.

For the purposes of DataStage, the scaling is important because of the application of it done by Sequential stages, but whether its NUMERIC or DECIMAL is treated the same I believe.