timestamp vs regular date

[dror_israel]

Hello,

When I need to put date/time in my DB what is preffered:
put them in timestamp format or
put them as they are in regular date/time format?

Also, if I need to put a date earlier than 1970 how can I do it with timestamp?

Thanks

[tomhath]

For dates after 1970 I'd use "timestamp", if the date can be earlier you'll need to use "date" (although it only goes back to 1582).

http://www.mysql.com/doc/en/Date_and_time_types.html

But it's okay to use "date" for eveything, there are plenty of built-in functions to calculated differences.

http://www.mysql.com/doc/en/Date_and_time_functions.html