"Leif B. Kristensen" <leif@solumslekt.org> writes:
> It seems like there are two camps considering EAV models. On the one
> hand, there are researchers who think that EAV is a great way to meet
> their objectives. On the other hand, there are the "business" guys who
> thnk that EAV is crap.
Well, no, it's not that EAV is crap. It's that EAV is strong evidence
that you're using the wrong tool for the job. If a SQL database is
actually a good fit for your application, then it should be possible to
extract a stronger schema for your data. If you cannot, then you
probably should be storing your data in something else. Otherwise
you'll spend untold man-hours beating your head against assorted walls
while you try to persuade the SQL database to do things it was never
meant for, and coping with performance issues because the cases you need
are not optimized nor indeed optimizable. (I can just see that other
guy trying to search on one of his "polymorphic" columns :-(.)
SQL isn't the be-all and end-all of data storage. It does relational
stuff well, and other stuff poorly.
regards, tom lane