Emmitt, Wow!! I thought I was the only one who considered bit and bytes for efficiency.
By way of info. From a storage point of view a RBase integer takes 4 bytes of space but also TEXT values between 1 and 4 characters all occupy 4 bytes of storage. Although the choice of Integer vs TEXT depends on the application need I do have a table which life easier. See included code: CREATE TABLE `ApSwitchCodes` + (`ApSwBoolInt` INTEGER , + `ApSw1ChrYesNo` TEXT(1), + `ApSw3ChrYesNo` TEXT(3), + `ApSw3ChrOnOff` TEXT(3), + `ApSw1ChrTrueFalse` TEXT(1), + `ApSw5ChrTrueFalse` TEXT(5), + `ApSw1ChrGender` TEXT(1), + `ApSw6ChrGender` TEXT(6), + `ApSw1ChrActInact` TEXT(1), + `ApSw10ChrActInact` TEXT(10), + `ApSwActionPrompt` TEXT(8), + `ApSwActionKey` TEXT(8), + `ApSw2ValOnly` TEXT(1) ) LOAD `ApSwitchCodes` NONUM 0,'N','No','Off','F','False','F','Female','I','Inactive','Quit','[Esc]','1' 1,'Y','Yes','On','T','True','M','Male','A','Active','Process','[Enter]','1' 2,'U','N/A','N/A','N','Unkn','N','Neuter','R','Restricted','ReEnter','ReEnter+ ','0' END COMMENT ON TABLE `ApSwitchCodes` IS + 'AppSys Prompt values for Yes/No, On/Off, Etc.' Jim Bentley --- Bill Downall <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > I have Emmitt's predilections based on old-fashioned things > like bytes of > storage and instruction-processing, from back when storage and > cpu cycles > actually made a difference. > > However, storing 1s and 0s also means that you almost aways > have to > translate that to a Y or N or T or F or Yes or No or True or > False to > present it back to the user in a report. If you store what has > meaning to > the end user, you don't have to translate it. > > Bill > > > On Fri, Apr 18, 2008 at 12:45 PM, Emmitt Dove > <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > wrote: > > > Jan, > > > > Out of habits formed when I was programming in Macro > Assembler I would use > > the integer. That's because I know that there will be fewer > instructions > > executed by the cpu to evaluate equality of the integer than > with the > > text. > > (I've long wished for the ability to manipulate individual > bits in a byte > > so > > as to be able to store eight 1/0 flags in one byte ...) > > > > Having said that, in today's world, the performance > advantage is not going > > to be noticeable unless your programs perform such > evaluation intensively. > > > > Emmitt Dove > > Manager, DairyPak Business Systems > > Evergreen Packaging, Inc. > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > (203) 643-8022 > > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: [email protected] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf > Of Jan > > Johansen > > Sent: Friday, April 18, 2008 10:49 AM > > To: RBASE-L Mailing List > > Subject: [RBASE-L] - Friday question > > > > G'Day, > > > > I need to add several columns to a table that will basically > hold > > True/False information. > > > > In the past I have always handled this with a TEXT column > > defaulted to N and being able to change to Y. > > But I'm curious now if this kind of information > > is better handled with an INTEGER defaulted to 0 > > and using 1 as true. > > > > Opinions? > > > > Jan > > > > > > > Jim Bentley American Celiac Society [EMAIL PROTECTED] tel: 1-504-737-3293 ____________________________________________________________________________________ Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile. Try it now. http://mobile.yahoo.com/;_ylt=Ahu06i62sR8HDtDypao8Wcj9tAcJ
