Tim, you wrote:
fuzzy dates should be put into free text only
I agree. A data type reserved for dates should be computable. One can make
calculations with less precise dates (month, year), but not if a random
component is taken out of a date. Adding a flag for missing month may be
simple, but as a programmer, would I bother to check it, or other similar
flags? If I did, what could I do? The best that could be done would be to
print the date out as such, otherwise it should be regarded as invalid or
null. That would only lead to bloated code for little or no value to the end
user.
Martti Ikonen
Kuopio University Hospital
Finland