Use IDs or strings?

>> How does one handle cars manufactured before VINs came into use? <<

You will be issued a VIN if you want to drive the vehicle on a public
road. If you build your own vehicle, then you inherit the VIN on the
engine block or you get issued one. If the manufacturer went out of
business before 1950, you get a dummy value from a DMV or national
agency. Hey, they want your money.

Here are some more details: http://www.vinguard.org/vin.htm

>> How about books before ISBNs began to be used? Which identification systems are commonly used? <<

Having owned some bookstores in the past, it is much the same scheme.
We used a dummy language sub-code of 99 (97 is Esperanto), a Dewey
Decimal Classification and then a sequence within the DDC.

In retail, if you make a product in-house (bakery in a grocery store),
there are "open codes" in the UPC so you can bar-code the goods.

If you look for it, you will find a standard or two that will help and
give you validation and verification rules.

Thank you, great to know!

On Tue, 23 Dec 2008 15:27:34 -0800 (PST), --CELKO-- wrote:

>>> How does one handle cars manufactured before VINs came into use? <<
>
>You will be issued a VIN if you want to drive the vehicle on a public
>road. If you build your own vehicle, then you inherit the VIN on the
>engine block or you get issued one. If the manufacturer went out of
>business before 1950, you get a dummy value from a DMV or national
>agency. Hey, they want your money.
>
> Here are some more details: http://www.vinguard.org/vin.htm
>
>>> How about books before ISBNs began to be used? Which identification systems are commonly used? <<
>
>Having owned some bookstores in the past, it is much the same scheme.
>We used a dummy language sub-code of 99 (97 is Esperanto), a Dewey
>Decimal Classification and then a sequence within the DDC.
>
>In retail, if you make a product in-house (bakery in a grocery store),
>there are "open codes" in the UPC so you can bar-code the goods.
>
>If you look for it, you will find a standard or two that will help and
>give you validation and verification rules.
>