In this case (medical informatics), then a document oriented database like CouchDB (as Marnen pointed out already) may be the best solution.
On Jul 31, 10:43 am, Andrew Pace <andrewpp...@gmail.com> wrote: > Also consider the demands of a very very rapidly changing field, like > medical informatics. In this area, many prefer the flexibility of a > key/value system because adding columns constantly would be a > nightmare. Think off adding columns for every new lab test, imaging > type, procedure, etc. This is where a system like this is extremely > helpful. > > Another addition that can sometimes be helpful is to add an additional > column that holds a "datatype" that represents a traditional database > constraint. This allows for easy programmatic testing against this > datatype before the data enters the database. Obviously this requires > some programming work up-front, but this can be exceedingly useful > once it is built. Again, flexibility is the key here. > > Some links: > > http://ycmi.med.yale.edu/nadkarni/eav_CR_contents.htmhttp://www.cdc.gov/nedss/DataModels/index.htmlhttp://www.research.ibm.com/journal/sj/461/eggebraaten.html > > Andrew --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Ruby on Rails: Talk" group. To post to this group, send email to rubyonrails-talk@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to rubyonrails-talk+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rubyonrails-talk?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
