ScottPletcher (12/12/2012)

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CELKO (12/11/2012)

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In COBOL, the display and the internal format of data was the same. Each field had a PICTURE clause to define it. Your question makes sense only in that context.

This is SQL; columns are abstract data types that can be implemented any way at all. As with any -- repeat, ANY -- tiered architecture, all of the display formatting is done in a presentation layer. NEVER in the database.

This is not a little miscegenation; this is the basis of C/S.

Editor: Removed unprofessional comment.

No, sometimes pre-formatting is done in the RDBMS for convenience. Theorists may decry that, but it happens all the time. HTML is just a variation of that, and it's stored in RDBMs all the time.

Btw, no RDBMS ever has anything whatsoever to do with "miscegenation", which involves racial mixing! How on earth do you figure that "miscegenation" is even within LIGHT YEARS on any SQL topic???