I tend these days to always use the full descriptive words - memory implications are small, but it is easier to directly display the value than have code to expand it wherever it is used. It also tends to make the code logic easier to follow.
tonypm
I tend these days to always use the full descriptive words -
Definitely not in a case like this. The set of three values here maps *perfectly* to SQL-style 3-valued logic -- so use it! Store this as a boolean value.
A larger set of strings could be stored directly in a character field in the database, but if the number is under 100 or so, I'd advise creating a separate table and simply referring to the strings by foreign key. This practice will avoid all sorts of data normalization issues. I'd never dream of storing a small number of repeating strings as literal text the way you're suggesting.
memory implications are small, but it is easier to directly display the value than have code to expand it wherever it is used.
Not really -- especially if the application should run in more than one language.
It also tends to make the code logic easier to follow.
Again, not really. You have to explicitly test for == 'yes' rather than simply testing for truth or falsehood.
tonypm
Best,
