Re: Putting it all together

From	gordonb.zp2md@burditt.org (Gordon Burditt)
Subject	Re: Putting it all together
Newsgroups	comp.lang.php, comp.databases.mysql
References	<lvu67cwyypan.1uwuoyhnivv30.dlg@40tude.net> <att9q99g56phlhcf34vhs52i7fgdvfi2ak@4ax.com> <1v5cqtux7fm2t$.14sqgdhtzf3vw.dlg@40tude.net> <XnsA3533BF035EAdougmilmaccom@78.46.70.116>
Message-ID	<ppOdnbD7S_CF0DjOnZ2dnUVZ_rydnZ2d@posted.internetamerica> (permalink)
Date	2014-06-21 04:15 -0500

Cross-posted to 2 groups.

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> Why would anyone store a date in a MySQL 
> database using any data type other than DATE or DATETIME?

Believe it or not, there are (very rarely) good reasons to do that.

Genealogy is one example.  It has lots of dates MySQL won't accept.
First, some people (such as English royalty) can trace their ancestry
back before 1000 A.D., before the limit on the DATE type.  Second,
MySQL doesn't like imprecise dates, such as only a year being known.
Third, during a time when both the Julian and Gregorian calendars
were in use, depending on location, you often see dates recorded
as "5 January 1712/13" or "5 January 1712/3".  You might also see
"5 January 1712".  

Since the Julian calendar as used in the English colonies that later
became the United States used March 25 as the first day of the year,
you can get ridiculous-looking records such as a child born: March
27, 1700, died: March 23, 1700 (not a mistake:  the child lived
almost a full year) and born: March 24, 1700, died: March 25, 1701
(the child lived about 24 hours).  Also, a date recorded as "the
6th day of the third month of 1699" might be referring to March or
May.

It may be best to treat all dates (birth, death, marriage, graduation,
etc.) as ranges.  These should be DATE types for efficient sorting
and date arithmetic.  It's also important to record the date(s) as
stated in the source(s) as originally recorded, complete with
accurate reproduction of spelling errors and in the original language,
in text fields (or perhaps as an image).  This is not redundant.
You may have to do considerable research to set the DATE fields
from the original source data that may be conflicting, imprecise,
or ambiguous.  You might need to try extening the Gregorian calendar
backwards to avoid death before birth and other anomalies.

Thread

Putting it all together richard <noreply@example.com> - 2014-06-20 10:20 -0400
  Re: Putting it all together Evan Platt <evan@theobvious.espphotography.com.invalid> - 2014-06-20 08:11 -0700
    Re: Putting it all together richard <noreply@example.com> - 2014-06-20 11:24 -0400
      Re: Putting it all together Doug Miller <doug_at_milmac_dot_com@example.com> - 2014-06-20 17:15 +0000
      Re: Putting it all together Evan Platt <evan@theobvious.espphotography.com.invalid> - 2014-06-20 20:01 -0700
  Re: Putting it all together Jürgen Exner <jurgenex@hotmail.com> - 2014-06-20 08:21 -0700
  Re: Putting it all together Norman Peelman <npeelman@cfl.rr.com> - 2014-06-20 21:06 -0400
  Re: Putting it all together Denis McMahon <denismfmcmahon@gmail.com> - 2014-06-21 03:02 +0000
  Re: Putting it all together Denis McMahon <denismfmcmahon@gmail.com> - 2014-06-21 03:09 +0000
  Re: Putting it all together Jürgen Exner <jurgenex@hotmail.com> - 2014-06-20 20:13 -0700
    Re: Putting it all together richard <noreply@example.com> - 2014-06-20 23:34 -0400
      Re: Putting it all together Jürgen Exner <jurgenex@hotmail.com> - 2014-06-20 20:48 -0700
      Re: Putting it all together Evan Platt <evan@theobvious.espphotography.com.invalid> - 2014-06-20 21:00 -0700
      Re: Putting it all together Doug Miller <doug_at_milmac_dot_com@example.com> - 2014-06-21 04:22 +0000
        Re: Putting it all together Jürgen Exner <jurgenex@hotmail.com> - 2014-06-20 22:11 -0700
          Re: Putting it all together Evan Platt <evan@theobvious.espphotography.com.invalid> - 2014-06-20 22:39 -0700
        Re: Putting it all together gordonb.zp2md@burditt.org (Gordon Burditt) - 2014-06-21 04:15 -0500
          Storing dates (was: Putting it all together) Thomas 'PointedEars' Lahn <PointedEars@web.de> - 2014-06-21 12:15 +0200
            Re: Storing dates richard <noreply@example.com> - 2014-06-21 11:10 -0400
              Re: Storing dates Doug Miller <doug_at_milmac_dot_com@example.com> - 2014-06-21 17:42 +0000
                Re: Storing dates richard <noreply@example.com> - 2014-06-21 14:28 -0400
                Re: Storing dates Jürgen Exner <jurgenex@hotmail.com> - 2014-06-21 12:04 -0700
                Re: Storing dates Doug Miller <doug_at_milmac_dot_com@example.com> - 2014-06-21 19:06 +0000
                Re: Storing dates Tim Streater <timstreater@greenbee.net> - 2014-06-21 22:06 +0100
                Re: Storing dates Jerry Stuckle <jstucklex@attglobal.net> - 2014-06-21 17:09 -0400
                Re: Storing dates Tim Streater <timstreater@greenbee.net> - 2014-06-21 22:33 +0100
                Re: Storing dates Jerry Stuckle <jstucklex@attglobal.net> - 2014-06-21 17:49 -0400
                Re: Storing dates Thomas 'PointedEars' Lahn <PointedEars@web.de> - 2014-06-22 14:38 +0200
                Re: Storing dates Jürgen Exner <jurgenex@hotmail.com> - 2014-06-21 14:31 -0700
                Re: Storing dates Tim Streater <timstreater@greenbee.net> - 2014-06-21 22:44 +0100
                Re: Storing dates Thomas 'PointedEars' Lahn <PointedEars@web.de> - 2014-06-22 14:59 +0200
                Re: Storing dates Denis McMahon <denismfmcmahon@gmail.com> - 2014-06-21 23:19 +0000
                Re: Storing dates Arno Welzel <usenet@arnowelzel.de> - 2014-06-22 08:53 +0200
                Re: Storing dates "Erick T. Barkhuis" <erick.use-net@ardane.c.o.m> - 2014-06-22 08:03 +0000
                Re: Storing dates Jerry Stuckle <jstucklex@attglobal.net> - 2014-06-22 09:29 -0400
                Re: Storing dates "Erick T. Barkhuis" <erick.use-net@ardane.c.o.m> - 2014-06-22 14:24 +0000
                Re: Storing dates Jerry Stuckle <jstucklex@attglobal.net> - 2014-06-22 10:32 -0400
                Re: Storing dates "Erick T. Barkhuis" <erick.use-net@ardane.c.o.m> - 2014-06-22 14:45 +0000
                Re: Storing dates Denis McMahon <denismfmcmahon@gmail.com> - 2014-06-22 19:44 +0000
                Re: Storing dates Jürgen Exner <jurgenex@hotmail.com> - 2014-06-22 08:26 -0700
                Re: Storing dates gordonb.q26od@burditt.org (Gordon Burditt) - 2014-06-22 10:00 -0500
                Re: Storing dates Arno Welzel <usenet@arnowelzel.de> - 2014-06-22 16:47 +0200
                Re: Storing dates richard <noreply@example.com> - 2014-06-22 13:55 -0400
                Re: Storing dates Jürgen Exner <jurgenex@hotmail.com> - 2014-06-22 12:31 -0700
                Re: Storing dates Thomas 'PointedEars' Lahn <PointedEars@web.de> - 2014-06-24 22:27 +0200
                Re: Storing dates Denis McMahon <denismfmcmahon@gmail.com> - 2014-06-22 19:52 +0000
                Re: Storing dates Arno Welzel <usenet@arnowelzel.de> - 2014-06-22 21:52 +0200
                Re: Storing dates richard <noreply@example.com> - 2014-06-22 14:05 -0400
                Re: Storing dates Arno Welzel <usenet@arnowelzel.de> - 2014-06-22 21:56 +0200
                Re: Storing dates richard <noreply@example.com> - 2014-06-22 22:46 -0400
                Re: Storing dates Arno Welzel <usenet@arnowelzel.de> - 2014-06-23 08:11 +0200
                Re: Storing dates richard <noreply@example.com> - 2014-06-23 02:37 -0400
                Re: Storing dates Arno Welzel <usenet@arnowelzel.de> - 2014-06-23 11:10 +0200
                Re: Storing dates Evan Platt <evan@theobvious.espphotography.com.invalid> - 2014-06-23 06:50 -0700
                Re: Storing dates richard <noreply@example.com> - 2014-06-23 11:13 -0400
                Re: Storing dates Evan Platt <evan@theobvious.espphotography.com.invalid> - 2014-06-23 09:13 -0700
                Re: Storing dates Arno Welzel <usenet@arnowelzel.de> - 2014-06-23 22:33 +0200
                Re: Storing dates richard <noreply@example.com> - 2014-06-22 23:04 -0400
                Re: Storing dates Arno Welzel <usenet@arnowelzel.de> - 2014-06-23 08:12 +0200
                Re: Storing dates Geoff Muldoon <geoff.muldoon@trap.gmail.com> - 2014-06-23 16:45 +1000
                Re: Storing dates richard <noreply@example.com> - 2014-06-23 07:58 -0400
                Re: Storing dates Jürgen Exner <jurgenex@hotmail.com> - 2014-06-23 09:50 -0700
                Re: Storing dates Christoph Michael Becker <cmbecker69@arcor.de> - 2014-06-23 19:02 +0200
                Re: Storing dates Geoff Muldoon <geoff.muldoon@trap.gmail.com> - 2014-06-24 12:00 +1000
                Re: Storing dates Thomas 'PointedEars' Lahn <PointedEars@web.de> - 2014-06-24 22:38 +0200
                Re: Storing dates Jürgen Exner <jurgenex@hotmail.com> - 2014-06-22 15:30 -0700
                Re: Storing dates "Peter H. Coffin" <hellsop@ninehells.com> - 2014-06-22 20:10 -0500
          Re: Putting it all together Jürgen Exner <jurgenex@hotmail.com> - 2014-06-21 03:34 -0700
      Re: Putting it all together Denis McMahon <denismfmcmahon@gmail.com> - 2014-06-21 10:23 +0000
      Re: Putting it all together bill <william@TechServSys.com> - 2014-06-21 07:03 -0400
        Re: Putting it all together Denis McMahon <denismfmcmahon@gmail.com> - 2014-06-21 15:11 +0000
      Re: Putting it all together "Peter H. Coffin" <hellsop@ninehells.com> - 2014-06-21 10:57 -0500
      Re: Putting it all together Arno Welzel <usenet@arnowelzel.de> - 2014-06-22 08:45 +0200

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