Unique identifier
A unique identifier is a value or name that distinguishes an entity or record from others within a defined scope or namespace.
The Well-Grounded Data Analyst
A unique identifier is a value intended to distinguish one entity or record from others within a data source or model.
- How it is used
- Supports record combination, deduplication, entity linkage, and consistency checks across customer and product data.
- How deep it goes
- Works through generated guest IDs, duplicate-ID relationships, and grouped checks for conflicting product attributes.
- Examples
- Uses guest checkout customers with missing IDs and product IDs assigned to multiple categories or brands.
- What you can do after
- Apply it via pandas and recordlinkage to assign IDs, link possible duplicate customers, and detect inconsistent product attributes.
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API Design Patterns
An identifier is a value that uniquely distinguishes an entity or resource within a relevant system or scope.
- How it is used
- Addresses individual API resources for lookup, references, imports, operations, copying, authentication, and request deduplication.
- How deep it goes
- Explains scope, permanence, usability, generation, encoding, sizing, storage, references, and operational edge cases down to implementation guidance.
- Examples
- Uses people, books, companies, ISBNs, Base32 book paths, random-generation code, resource references, and operation identifiers.
- What you can do after
- Build it from scratch by selecting scope, format, size, generation, validation, storage, and reference policies for API resources.
The Well-Grounded Python Developer: How the pros use Python and Flask
A unique identifier is a value intended to distinguish one entity or record from all others within a specified context.
- How it is used
- Distinguishes records for cross-file relationships and users for sessions or login.
- How deep it goes
- Works through per-file row IDs and cross-file links, then illustrates a UUID-backed user primary key without explaining UUID generation.
- Examples
- Illustrates incrementing CSV row IDs, order-item links, email-based login lookup, and a UUID-backed user model.
- What you can do after
- Apply it via incrementing CSV identifiers or a Python UUID-backed user model to distinguish records and connect related data.
The Design of Web APIs, Second Edition
An identifier is a value that uniquely distinguishes an entity or record within a system.
- How it is used
- Guides API resource modeling and HTTP path design by distinguishing the resource an operation addresses from data that filters or modifies it.
- How deep it goes
- Explains path placement, hierarchy, contextual classification, global uniqueness, and trade-offs, but does not specify one identifier format.
- Examples
- Uses product, catalog, category, supplier, account, address, and transaction paths to demonstrate hierarchy, filtering, collisions, and globally unique IDs.
- What you can do after
- Evaluate and design predictable resource paths, placing identifying values in path parameters and nonidentifying filters in query parameters.
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ScyllaDB in Action
A unique identifier is a value intended to distinguish one stored entity from all others, such as an author or article identifier.
- How it is used
- Uses IDs to identify entities and form query-oriented primary keys in a ScyllaDB review application.
- How deep it goes
- Explains identifier selection through primary keys, partitions, denormalized tables, and a brief UUID introduction; defers generated-ID drawbacks.
- Examples
- Uses articles, authors, and summaries organized by author, date, or score as identifier-bearing schema examples.
- What you can do after
- Evaluate/understand when a single ID or a composite key better supports a required read query.
Java Persistence with Spring Data and Hibernate epub
An entity property whose value identifies its corresponding persistent database record.
- How it is used
- Distinguishes persistent entity records and provides application-level handles for retrieving particular instances.
- How deep it goes
- Defines identifier properties through entity rules, default column mapping, field access, and an annotation-based Java example.
- Examples
- Uses a mapped Item entity with a generated Long id and getter, plus search-result retrieval by identifier.
- What you can do after
- Operate/configure mapped entities with @Id, predictable identifier names, field access, and optional application-facing getters.
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Authorization in Action
An identifier is a name that uniquely represents an entity or boundary within a specified namespace.
- How it is used
- Anchors recognition, enrollment, authentication, session continuity, and authorization boundaries within defined namespaces.
- How deep it goes
- Explains namespaces, account relationships, enrollment, authentication flows, and identifier-only risks, but does not specify identifier-generation algorithms.
- Examples
- Uses usernames, email addresses, cookies, social security numbers, database table names, project IDs, and tenant_id values.
- What you can do after
- Apply identifiers to distinguish accounts, scope authorization, and assess whether identifier-only authentication exposes relationships to hijacking.
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Secure APIs
A database identifier is a value that uniquely distinguishes a stored record or entity within a database.
- How it is used
- Uses identifiers to locate API resources and assess how API design affects security.
- How deep it goes
- Explains identifier use, predictable sequences, enumeration, and BOLA consequences, but does not specify replacement identifier formats.
- Examples
- Uses payments and orders APIs, /payments/1 paths, incremental IDs, and a user-record leak involving Clubhouse.
- What you can do after
- Evaluate APIs for predictable identifiers and identifier-manipulation paths that could expose unauthorized resources.
Graph Algorithms for Data Science
A unique identifier is a value or attribute that distinguishes one entity or graph element from all others within its scope.
- How it is used
- Uses node identity to make graph imports predictable and prevent duplicate matches.
- How deep it goes
- Explains identifier-based MERGE, duplicate results, and conditional property updates, but does not detail database constraints.
- Examples
- Uses Alicia, Amy, Jane, Samay, Alex, and Andrea as Person-node and relationship examples.
- What you can do after
- Apply it via Cypher to merge nodes by identity and update properties according to creation or matching.
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Related concepts
- universally unique identifierincludes · A universally unique identifier (UUID) is a standardized 128-bit identifier designed to distinguish entities with an extremely low probability of collision across independently generated values.
- Bulk APIused by · A Bulk API is an interface for submitting multiple related data operations or items in a single request.
- HTTP GETused by · HTTP GET is a request method for retrieving a representation of a resource identified by the request target, without requesting a state change.
- route parameterincludes · A route parameter is a named variable embedded in a URL path whose value is captured from a matching request to identify or select a resource or operation.
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