Of course you can create one VARCHAR(512), or whatever field, cram a bunch of comma-separated-values into it, and parse them out later. You can do that. But that's not an effective use of your database. It prevents you from easily searching in-database for all users who are a member of "wizzards". Instead you will have to use "LIKE" clauses, which are less efficient, or slurp all records into your script and do your own processing.
SQL-style databases usually just use another table whenever a developer is tempted to cram more than one item into a given field. There's good reason for that.
-
Are you posting in the right place? Check out Where do I post X? to know for sure.
-
Posts may use any of the Perl Monks Approved HTML tags. Currently these include the following:
<code> <a> <b> <big>
<blockquote> <br /> <dd>
<dl> <dt> <em> <font>
<h1> <h2> <h3> <h4>
<h5> <h6> <hr /> <i>
<li> <nbsp> <ol> <p>
<small> <strike> <strong>
<sub> <sup> <table>
<td> <th> <tr> <tt>
<u> <ul>
-
Snippets of code should be wrapped in
<code> tags not
<pre> tags. In fact, <pre>
tags should generally be avoided. If they must
be used, extreme care should be
taken to ensure that their contents do not
have long lines (<70 chars), in order to prevent
horizontal scrolling (and possible janitor
intervention).
-
Want more info? How to link
or How to display code and escape characters
are good places to start.
|