RE: FN-FORUM MySQL Question

date posted 12th April 2001 10:15

I believe that the original question was about how to store a boolean value
in the back end database. Peter prefers Y/N because when most people look at
the raw data they will find this easier to scan. However, using a "native"
boolean value has the advantage that the database will process it more
efficiently, and most database management tools and programming interfaces
will as well.

I think Peter's preference probably derives from the specific databases and
tools he has personally used. Mine derives from having international clients
with over sensitive and illogical foreign employees. After all, the field
name/tag is going to be in English, so what are they on about anyway?

But I would also point out that any decent development environment SHOULD be
able to display the "raw" data from a boolean field in any way the
developer/user prefers (or at least in an accepted standard format for the
language being used, and with the ability to translate the field name).

Regarding the people naming sub-thread, I think we are discussing Engish
language field tags, so would question the relevance of non-English speaking
naming conventions? Personally I prefer "Surname" and "Forenames" on English
language input forms. I would be interested to hear which Engish speaking
users might object to this?

David Nye
http://dnye.com
Business Systems, Database & Internet Applications Design & Development.
Microsoft SQL Server, Access, ASP & VB Programming.