So, yesterday, just one day after writing a short article about ENUM and SET and having it pointed out to me that data does not have a place in data structures (which is absolutely correct!), what did a developer want me to do at work but change an existing ENUM to add one item?
Well, having learned a bit, I suggested an alternative. The performance of our site depends on using ENUMs in the way I described, so we must continue to use them. Additionally, I was listening to Robin Schumacher making comments about how some folks “over-normalize” their data and need to do too many JOINs as a result.
Technically speaking, it’s not possible to “over-normalize” a data structure. But I’ll let that slide, because I know exactly what he meant.
At any rate, the alternative I suggested was to add all possible data points, not just the one, to the ENUM, thereby saving future ALTER TABLEs.
So a thank you to Kolbe, Beat and Arjen. I also would like to let people know that I am not perfect, and will attempt to understand mistakes I’ve made gracefully. I’m not perfect, that’s for sure, so do feel free to point out where I’m not correct.
So, yesterday, just one day after writing a short article about ENUM and SET and having it pointed out to me that data does not have a place in data structures (which is absolutely correct!), what did a developer want me to do at work but change an existing ENUM to add one item?
Well, having learned a bit, I suggested an alternative. The performance of our site depends on using ENUMs in the way I described, so we must continue to use them. Additionally, I was listening to Robin Schumacher making comments about how some folks “over-normalize” their data and need to do too many JOINs as a result.
Technically speaking, it’s not possible to “over-normalize” a data structure. But I’ll let that slide, because I know exactly what he meant.
At any rate, the alternative I suggested was to add all possible data points, not just the one, to the ENUM, thereby saving future ALTER TABLEs.
So a thank you to Kolbe, Beat and Arjen. I also would like to let people know that I am not perfect, and will attempt to understand mistakes I’ve made gracefully. I’m not perfect, that’s for sure, so do feel free to point out where I’m not correct.