MySQL ENUM type vs join tables

Question

My requirement

A table needs to maintain a status column.

This column represents one of 5 states.

initial desi

Answer 1

A table would be easier to internationalize. But so would a class outside the database entirely. This kind of check can be hard to debug when it's not in the business logic, and would typically not be the responsibility of database people.

As an optimization, it's probably very premature; but OP mainly proposes it as a convenience feature anyway.

See also http://komlenic.com/244/8-reasons-why-mysqls-enum-data-type-is-evil/