The status antipattern
In a new blogpost on vemv.net the author (I couldn't find his real name) argues against using a simple status field.
Dear programmer, do you ever use the name state for your variables? Like state = 42? “Hell no, that’s a terribly generic word. Better to use the domain-specific wording the variable refers to: is_invoiced, visit_count, shopping_cart, things like that.”Sounds reasonable. But sometimes, you have a database column called status, and use it through your codebase, right? “Yes.”
Were you aware that status and state mean basically the same thing in English? “Uhm…”