Re: database integrity

> I would say at first glance that data should not be generated that far in
> the future. Consider this. You know that the law can change, and
> therefore the data _cannot_ _be_ _considered_ _valid_ _when_ _saved_,
> therefore it should not be saved. It is not that the data was valid and
> then became invalid, it is that it was never valid in the first place.

I think the problem here is simply that this is denormalized data, with all the usual problems thereof. These future dates are the output of some application-specific function of the patent application date, and aren't primary data at all. Hence, when the function changes, the data is no longer valid.

I think it is sufficient simply not to store this data and to generate it
on demand according to the current function.

Marshall Received on Sat Jun 04 2005 - 10:18:48 CDT