Re:use of date type fields

[Buck Calabro <mcalabro@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

>We're embarking on some database design issues and I wanted to know how
>others felt about the use of date type fields versus just numeric type
>fields (format would be CCYYMMDD).  

I am using date type fields for new development.  This allows queries, etc.
to do things like "find records where the difference between action date
and request date is over 30."  Numeric type fields would not allow this
sort of query.

>What overhead (if any) would there be to convert numeric fields to date
>type fields to do certain date interval calculations?

In RPG IV, it is a simple thing to do.
*ISO     MOVE YYYYMMDD     DateTypeFld

It might be a lot of work to re-engineer your existing apps, but it sure
is nice to be able to do date arithmetic so easily (in RPG IV.)

Buck Calabro
Commsoft, Albany, NY

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