Lots of folks mentioning VSCode as the alternate to VS, but it is very much not that. VS is an IDE, VSCode is a text editor that just has a big plugin community. Do not expect a low learning curve. The VS alternative that’s an actual IDE, and does have a low learning curve, is JetBrains Rider. Unfortunately it is neither F nor OSS.

Parallel Processing Unit: PPU

Me. I came here to get AWAY from reddit, why the hell would I use it anymore?

Not one single mention for Gone in Sixty Seconds?

Lemmings… do I have bad taste?

That’s a perfectly valid approach, yes. We do exactly this, at work. It’s pretty common, if not ubiquitous, to have your database schema consist of not only structure, but data as well. We call it static data, and it’s all defined in deployable scripts, just like our tables and views are. If ISO makes changes to the dataset, then it’s just a table update to match it. And ISO is nice about keeping backwards compatibility inb their standards.

Since this is not strictly your own data, you could also go with just storing the code value on your tables, and letting the UI layer do the lookup, either with built-in features of your language/framework, or with a static csv file, like you mention. You may not want to do this for static data that is entirely your own, like, say, a status or type enum, since it makes your database schema less-self-descriptive, and more prone to becoming invalid.

You could also set the country code up as a not-strictly-enforced foreign key, where your app will lookup additional info (E.G. the proper name) for a country code, if it’s a standard one, but just skip that if it’s not a standard one.

It’s up to you what you think is most appropriate.