title: How is database memory allocated?
body: <p>If I declare a bunch of fields that are not always necessary, is memory allocated for each record created or does it not allocate memory until the field is initialized?</p>
  
  <p>Example: If I declare a table with an id field and a char(8) field, is memory allocated for the string each time an id is generated and entered into the table, or is it only allocated if the string is assigned a value?</p>