Matt,
[unix timestamps]
True, but it also means that they work across almost all languages, making
it easier to change and develop in future.
"2005-07-01 12:35:23" works across all languages, operating systems,
everything. It's also much more human-readable than "1120217723", which is
always a bonus :-)
Personally, though, the reason I use date fields for storing dates is that I
couldn't live without my date functions. A quick example: I use MSSQL's
DATEPART('q', <date>) a fair bit, but how do I work out the quarter of the
year from a timestamp without adding overhead in my code?
All databases have similar functions - here are MySQL's:
http://dev.mysql.com/doc/mysql/en/date-and-time-functions.html
If you're storing your dates as integers these aren't any good to you. Even
worse, you're wasting time adding your own equivalents of these functions to
every program you write.
Databases are good at what they do. Trust your database. If you want to
store a date, use a date column.
Finally, while "easier to develop in future" is a noble ideal, bear in mind
these timestamps will stop working a little before 3:15am UTC on January
19th 2038 ;-)
Cheers
Jon
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