Indeed, there is no need to use "varchar" with Postgres. One should use the modern "text" data type (which is like varchar, but practically unlimited).
Unlike MySQL's text datatype, it has no technical limitations; it can be used for fulltext indexing, it can be used with any table, and it is stored in the actual row (not externally).
varchar is an alias for "character varying", which is exactly the same as text.
I use both varchar and text. varchar for things that should be one line (i.e. a username). text for things that might be multiple lines. formtastic will show a html input field for varchar columns and a textarea for text columns.
(of course, you can insert paragraphs into the varchar columns, but it's a form of documentation)
Comments
Indeed, there is no need to use "varchar" with Postgres. One should use the modern "text" data type (which is like varchar, but practically unlimited).
Unlike MySQL's text datatype, it has no technical limitations; it can be used for fulltext indexing, it can be used with any table, and it is stored in the actual row (not externally).
varchar is an alias for "character varying", which is exactly the same as text.
I use both varchar and text. varchar for things that should be one line (i.e. a username). text for things that might be multiple lines. formtastic will show a html input field for varchar columns and a textarea for text columns.
(of course, you can insert paragraphs into the varchar columns, but it's a form of documentation)