What is a UUID, and Why Should You Care?

A Universally Unique IDentifier (UUID) is a 36-character alphanumeric string used to identify information such as table rows. UUIDs are globally unique, making them ideal for use in distributed systems where each node can generate its own UUID autonomously without fear of duplication or consistency issues. They are widely used in various applications including databases, analytics systems, and web and mobile applications. There are different types of UUIDs: time-based (versions 1 and 2), name-based (versions 3 and 5), and random (version 4). Generating a UUID is straightforward using libraries or built-in functions in most programming languages and databases. In distributed SQL databases, UUIDs are often preferred over traditional sequential ID generation methods due to their ability to scale without creating performance bottlenecks.