What is faster in mysql, equal or greater on numeric columns?

Question

I have numeric data with numbers representing the event that happened. Events can be public or private. I have 2 choices and I don't know which one to use (is faster).

1. I can make 2 columns, 1 is the event column and the values are like 1...10. The other is the public/private smallint column that says if the event is public or private.

2. I can make only one columns and number private events from 1...10 and public events from like 100...120. I have therefore "hid" the Event type into this column.

Now I want to filter with select of course... I would filter the first approach as SELECT * from event_table WHERE EventType=1

I would filter the second approach like: SELECT * from events_table WHERE EventID>100

Now what I really want to know, is the numeric = condition (contant) any faster than < or > (of course I will index this column!). With the second approach I would need one column less. I am not even sure if this is good or not...

Any advise would be appreceated.

Jerry

Answer 1

I'm not sure if there is some micro performance difference between the two approaches (I doubt it), but I would definitely go for the first approach. Mixing different types of information in one column is not something that I would recommend.