[Info-vax] The Gender Fluid IT Crisis

[Bill Gunshannon]

On 7/30/2017 1:44 PM, Arne Vajhøj wrote:
> On 7/30/2017 10:12 AM, Bill Gunshannon wrote:
>> On 7/29/2017 8:20 PM, Arne Vajhøj wrote:
>>> On 7/29/2017 7:33 PM, seasoned_geek wrote:
>>>> On Saturday, July 29, 2017 at 5:26:56 PM UTC-5, Arne Vajhøj wrote:
>>>>> Practically no one use BOOLEAN for storing sex even if that
>>>>> data type is available. BOOLEAN is for storing TRUE or FALSE
>>>>> not anything with two values.
>>>>>
>>>>> ENUM, CHAR, INT is what is used for what is truly
>>>>> an enumeration. None of these have problems with more
>>>>> than two values.
> 
>> In all the years I did COBOL SEX was a Character, PIC A (or
>> usually just X).  If A that gives you 26 possibilities with
>> X even more.
> 
> COBOL does not have boolean, so it it was not an option.
> 
> But I am pretty dure that you would not store sex in a
> boolean if you were doing Pascal, C++, Fortran
> or even something newer.
> 
> Arne
> 
> 

Boolean would never work anyway.  Nor would a single bit.
There has always been at least three options.
Male - Female - Unknown

bill