Lars Appel wrote:
>
> >Zip codes are a good example.
>  ...
>
> >While two letter state abbreviations are notoriously stable data
>  ...
>
> My I humbly point out that not all countries on the planet use the
> US zip code or state abbreviations system? Related features might
> need to be customizable for other countries... or would this simply
> add a reason why they don't belong into the database itself?  ;-)

A database such as PostgreSQL that supports trigger functions written in
procedural languages would allow you to validate any form of zipcode you want.
Just write whatever custom validation code you need, and stick it in the
database.

I'm currently in the clean-up phase (as I type this, waiting for another round
of compiling to finish) of my MPE port of PostgreSQL, and hope to do a beta
release very soon in a matter of days.  Stay tuned.  :-)
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