Should _super_attribute_code should be a static value or a dynamic one?

Question

Title pretty much says it but let me flesh this out more.

For configurable products, is it better to use something like a dynamic value such as color for something such as

'_super_products_sku' => '10450242102',
'_super_attribute_code' => 'color',
'_super_attribute_option' => 'Tan',

or would it be better to use a static value such as the first 5 digits of a sku which are immutable and do not change, such as

'_super_products_sku' => '10450242102',
'_super_attribute_code' => 'refid',
'_super_attribute_option' => '10450',

Why would I use one over the other?

Answer 1

super_attribute_code is the code of the configurable attribute (i.e. color) and configurable attributes always have to be attributes of the "dropdown" type, i.e. their value is an integer which is an id assigned by Magento and independent of their displayed value (the "label"). _super_attribute_option is this value.

So _super_attribute_option = "Tan" will not work, but neither will using an arbitrary number. There is no choice here.