When is it better to store flags as a bitmask rather than using an associative table?

Question

I’m working on an application where users have different permissions to use different features (e.g. Read, Create, Download, Print, Approve, etc.). The list of permissions i

Answer 1

Store the permissions normalized (i.e. not in a bitmask). While it's obviously not a requirement for your scenario (especially if the permissions won't often change), it will make querying much easier and more obvious.