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UUID Standard Architecture

Universally Unique Identifier engineering. From legacy RFC 4122 to the modern RFC 9562 timestamp-ordered specifications.

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The Engineering of Unique Identifiers

UUIDs are 128-bit values structured to ensure global uniqueness. The evolution of the standard from RFC 4122 to RFC 9562 has introduced optimizations for modern distributed systems and database storage engines.

Database Monotonicity

The primary advantage of Version 7 is its time-ordered prefix. In B-Tree indexes, this ensures that new rows are appended sequentially, eliminating the index fragmentation common with random Version 4 UUIDs.

Collision Probability

With $2^122$ possible random values, the chance of a UUID collision is practically zero. Even generating billions per second, it would take centuries to encounter a duplicate in a global system.

Why Standards Matter

Choosing the right UUID version is an architectural decision. While v4 is perfect for UI tokens and session IDs, v7 is the superior choice for primary keys in high-scale Postgres or MySQL instances. Deterministic versions like v3 and v5 are essential when you need to map existing strings (like URLs or account names) to a 128-bit space consistently.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a UUID?

A UUID (Universally Unique Identifier) is a 128-bit number used to uniquely identify information in computer systems without significant central coordination.

Which UUID version should I use?

For most modern database applications, Version 7 is recommended due to its sortability. For simple unique tokens, Version 4 is the industry standard.

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