Unsigned Data Types

In some cases, using unsigned data types can eliminate sign comparisons and create faster queries.

Use unsigned data types when the sign of the data does not matter as all data will always be greater than or equal to zero. The lack of sign storage results in column comparisons that no longer have to perform sign comparison. This increases performance and eliminates a step in the joining and searching of data, particularly for key columns.

Related concepts
Indexing
Join Column
Primary Keys
Foreign Keys
Proper Data Type Sizing
Null Values
LONG VARCHAR and LONG VARBINARY
Large Object Storage
Temporary Tables
Denormalizing for Performance
UNION ALL Views for Faster Loads
Hash Partitioning