FreeLists / oracle-l / Storing single numbers in the database

["Sandra Becker" <sbecker6925@xxxxxxxxx>]

Linux RHEL4, Oracle 9.2.0.8

I have a developer who wants to define a column as CHAR(1) in an existing
table.  The only values this will ever hold are zero and one.  I asked why
he didn't define it as NUMBER(1) and the response was "Because I don't want
to do the translation in my code."  He believes that the column in this
table will be heavily used when it gets to production.  Since it's a new
feature for the application, we have no way of knowing for sure how the
customers will use it.  They're kind of funny about deciding for themselves
how they want to use the features.

Questions:  Does it really matter if it's stored as NUMBER(1) or CHAR(1)?
What are the ramifications, if any, of defining the column as CHAR(1)?

I personally believe that if you want to store a numerical value and ONLY a
numerical value in a column, you should define the column as NUMBER.

Sandy