Software Design:Categories

Software Design issues for the part categories system:

database tables in bbdb:

categories Each category has a name and a description. Columns: id, name, comment, c_date, user_id;

part_categories Contains a part - category binding. Columns: id, part_id, category_id, c_date, user_id;

• issue: Is the category a number indexed into bbdb.categories or the text name of the category?
• issue: Would this design be better if the categories were in a u_list?
  • answer: Perhaps if we were using the category numbers above.

• issue: Why not use the mysql 'set' type?
  • answer: The set datatype requires that all the possible values be defined at table creation.