Re: The BOOLEAN data type

"Paul Vernon" <paul.vernon_at_ukk.ibmm.comm> wrote in message news:b6c0ed$1inq$1_at_sp15at20.hursley.ibm.com...
> "--CELKO--" <71062.1056_at_compuserve.com> wrote in message
> news:c0d87ec0.0303311011.2966d628_at_posting.google.com...
> > [...] Booleans are
> > usually, but not always, a sign of bad programming.
>
> that would surprise me if it were true, but then what has programming got
to
> do with database theory?
>
> > Someone is
> > storing the state of the database at one point in time as a flag.
>
> I'm not at all sure what that means

I *think* that the idea was apps that use (or would like to) a boolean value for (say) SHIPPED on an order item line. There are of course other occassions where the attribute really is a boolean, and as others have said omitting the datatype does not prevent developers from producing roll-your own implementations of the datatype, and then misusing them.

--
Niall Litchfield
Oracle DBA
Audit Commission UK