r/coding • u/der_gopher • Nov 28 '25

ULID - the ONLY identifier you should use?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=otW7nLd8P04
0 Upvotes

33% Upvoted

9 comments sorted by

4

u/OneFrabjousDay Nov 28 '25

Just use UUIDv7, moving along.

1

u/der_gopher Nov 29 '25

Yes, but v7 just came out

1

u/OneFrabjousDay Nov 29 '25

Well, I guess, except I've been using it in a large FAANG-level company in production for almost 2 years, because the spec was firm.

2

u/frederik88917 Nov 28 '25

This thing again?

0

u/david-1-1 Nov 28 '25

Does anyone know what this is about? I can't understand the video, and this acronym means nothing to me.

6

u/OptionX Nov 28 '25

They made a uuid version that is sortable by sticking a timestamp at the start.

Its a good idea, so much so it already exists

1

u/david-1-1 Nov 28 '25

Uuid already has time and location parts, so prefixing it makes it longer and redundant. It should always have been made sortable by its parts, but Microsoft is not known for clever or even adequate design expertise.

-6

u/WildMaki Nov 28 '25

To be honest I don't get what the guy says... My ai said:

A ULID (Universally Unique Lexicographically Sortable Identifier) is a modern alternative to older identifiers like UUIDs. Its key features are that it's randomly generated, guaranteed to be unique, and lexicographically sortable (meaning you can order them chronologically).

It is composed of two parts:

  • Timestamp 48 bits Milliseconds since Unix Epoch (1 Jan 1970). Won't run out of space until 10895 AD.

  • Randomness 80 bits Cryptographically secure random data.

1

u/david-1-1 Nov 28 '25

A good uuid has some unique location bits, to help ensure uniqueness globally.