considerations

Shared Purpose tables in database design ( how would *you* implement a question/answer facility )

I have long considered the design of a database that involves shared table purposes to be somewhat a trait of smelly code, and progressively increasing proliferation of smelly-code related problems. By this I mean, people over-normalizing, using 1 table where 2 tables could be more logical, people who've just discovered what normalizing...

What to consider before storing negative-dates in MySQL?

I'm working on a project now that will require me to enable users to store negative-dates in the database. These dates have the potential to span many thousands of years BC, and as late as 'Today.' I've worked on many projects that stored dates, but they were all relatively-recent dates, and none of them were ever negative (BC). What ty...