[web-devel] Enumerations?

[Michael Snoyman]

On Fri, Feb 25, 2011 at 7:09 AM, Vesa Kaihlavirta <vpkaihla at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hey,
>
> I was just reading the new Persistent section and a thought came to me
> at the Custom Fields section.
>
> Have you considered implementing them as database enums? They would be
> vastly more efficient than storing as strings.

In theory, it's a good idea. In practice, there are a number of issues
to be wary of:

* Makes sure migrations don't accidentally change the meaning of data
already in the database.
* Make sure we're generating the correct SQL for each backend (I think
the syntax is slightly different between engines).
* Figure out a solution that will work for non-SQL backends.

For the moment, even though it may not be the fastest, I think
serializing to String via Show/Read is the most robust approach. If
you want raw speed, you can always serialize to an Int instead. Just
realize that if you ever accidentally change the meaning of an integer
you will lose all your data ;).

Michael