BLOB or Normalized database with textual data?

Question

I am planning to develop a web-application just to test my knowledge on JSP/Servlets. I am planning to create a very simple "Bug tracker" and I am in the process of designing the database. I am using MySql/JDBC.

There are some minor insignificant data like user's DOB, Date of Joining, list of languages/technologies the user is comfortable with and so on. Is it good to put this information in a seperate table (say "User info") or put them in a BLOB and serialize the values in them?

Put in other words, in which scenarios BLOB is an appropriate type to use.

Answer 1

If you dont want the users to see the data like DOB, DOJ etc then you can as well put them in a blob and serialize/deseralize them.

General opinion is like if your data is large say like an image or something then go for blob otherwise dont go for it.

General advantages/disadvantages of using blob are mentioned here http://www.dotnetspark.com/kb/1121-advantages-and-disadvantages-storing-blob.aspx