filePro and MySQL (was Re: Filepro-list Digest, Vol 63, Issue 23)

[Fairlight]

This public service announcement was brought to you by Kenneth Brody:
> You can, of course, do some mapping.  For example, keeping dates as
> dates, and numbers as numbers.  And, if you're feeling adventuresome,
> yesno to boolean.

I didn't think of it, but of course fP's dates are not stored in epoch
format.  *sigh*  Good thing there are library calls to reverse that kind of
thing.

Still, that's a prime example of how application rules should NOT dictate
raw data storage, if ever there was one.  Especially something vague like
MDYY, where it's wholly ambiguous unless you know exactly what PFCMARK was
set to at entry.  Application usage that loose is one thing, but storing it
that way is just wrong on so many levels.

"You can always discard extra data that you don't need.  You can not
usually meaningfully fabricate accurate data in its initial absence.  There
is rarely such a thing as providing too much information."  --Fairlight

mark->
-- 
"I'm not subtle. I'm not pretty, and I'll piss off a lot of people along
the way. But I'll get the job done" --Captain Matthew Gideon, "Crusade"