Integer vs String in database

Question

When defining datatypes in a database, I have always had a problem with choosing whether to use integers or strings to store certain \'numerical\' data.

Say I am bui

Answer 1

Somtimes "always" means "for the next month". I wouldn't count on 4 digit codes not going alphanumeric within the lifespan of my responsibility.

Some dialects of SQL support a dataype that's like NUMBER(4). This works much like a character string, but the alphabet is 0 through 9.