Normally, we store object like 1,Smith,Joe,40000;2,Jones,Mary,50000;3,Johnson,Cathy,44000; However, some say store as 1,2,3;Smith,Jones,Johnson;Joe,Mary,Cathy;40000,50000,44000; is better for many cases... http://www.infoq.com/news/2007/09/row-vs-column-dbs ROW base DB are dead end? - http://slideshot.epfl.ch/play/suri_stonebraker