There are so many reasons to avoid using single columns to hold different types of data. For example, what if you wanted to pull all the data out sorted by "data?" Or what if you wanted to pull out all the unique bits of data? You end up doing crappy type conversions with built-in functions and basically abusing what a database is for.

In reply to Re: OT: benefits of database normalization by saberworks
in thread OT: benefits of database normalization by revdiablo

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