Question 1

What is a UUID and what does it stand for?

Accepted Answer

UUID stands for Universally Unique Identifier. It is a 128-bit identifier designed to be unique across all systems without requiring a central authority. UUIDs are represented as 32 hexadecimal digits displayed in five groups separated by hyphens: 8-4-4-4-12 (e.g., 550e8400-e29b-41d4-a716-446655440000). They are also known as GUIDs (Globally Unique Identifiers) in Microsoft systems.

Question 2

What are the different versions of UUID and when should I use each?

Accepted Answer

UUID v1 uses timestamp and MAC address (can leak information), v2 is DCE Security version (rarely used), v3 uses MD5 hash of namespace and name, v4 uses random numbers (most common, recommended for general use), v5 uses SHA-1 hash of namespace and name, v6 is timestamp-ordered v1 (better for databases), v7 is Unix timestamp-based (newest, excellent for databases), and v8 is custom format.

Question 3

Why should I use UUID v4 over other versions?

Accepted Answer

UUID v4 is recommended for general use because: it is purely random with no embedded information (privacy-safe), requires no coordination between systems, has no dependency on MAC addresses or timestamps, is simple to generate in any programming language, and has extremely low collision probability (1 in 5.3 billion billion for 103 trillion UUIDs). Use v7 if you need sortable/time-ordered IDs.

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