Hi Everyone,

I have been working with this sort of database design for several years now. It is very powerful and can be very useful, but I ***STRONGLY*** Recommend AGAINST this concept.

The problem isn't inherent to the model itself. The problem is that programmers are human beings and timelines are limited. Writing queries and maintaining data is MUCH more expensive AND much more error prone because of the increased complexity.

Every team has someone whoose SQL skills aren't very good. This person usually is invaluable for their other skills. A team working with this sort of Database design will:

A) Quickly steal all of the SQL experts from all the other teams.

B) Still make more SQL errors than other projects

C) Lack all of the other skills that the team needs as getting the DB to work becomes the only priority.

I know that I'm painting the doomsday scenario here, but let me assure you that this little boit of cleverness turns a profitable 1000 hour project into a 7000 hour project that almost kills the project team.

JUST SAY NO

Steven