Comments on: links for 2006-12-08 http://awads.net/wp/2006/12/08/links-for-2006-12-08/ News, views, tips and tricks on Oracle and other fun stuff Tue, 06 Jan 2009 09:10:20 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7 hourly 1 By: laurent schneider http://awads.net/wp/2006/12/08/links-for-2006-12-08/comment-page-1/#comment-50235 laurent schneider Sat, 09 Dec 2006 08:31:09 +0000 http://awads.net/wp/2006/12/08/links-for-2006-12-08/#comment-50235 <p>[i]an excellent job of demonstrating what total innumerate idiots reporters are.[/i]</p> <p>:twisted:</p> [i]an excellent job of demonstrating what total innumerate idiots reporters are.[/i]

:twisted:

]]> By: laurent schneider http://awads.net/wp/2006/12/08/links-for-2006-12-08/comment-page-1/#comment-50234 laurent schneider Sat, 09 Dec 2006 08:29:56 +0000 http://awads.net/wp/2006/12/08/links-for-2006-12-08/#comment-50234 <p>this about nan, not null :evil:</p> <p>http://preview.tinyurl.com/ybmkhh</p> this about nan, not null :evil:

http://preview.tinyurl.com/ybmkhh

]]> By: Eddie Awad http://awads.net/wp/2006/12/08/links-for-2006-12-08/comment-page-1/#comment-50231 Eddie Awad Fri, 08 Dec 2006 20:30:01 +0000 http://awads.net/wp/2006/12/08/links-for-2006-12-08/#comment-50231 <p>Some people don't like NULLs, others like NULLs to the degree of inventing a new number called "nullity". Check this out: <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/goodmath/2006/12/nullity_the_nonsense_number_1.php" rel="nofollow">Nullity - the Nonsense Number</a>.</p> Some people don’t like NULLs, others like NULLs to the degree of inventing a new number called “nullity”. Check this out: Nullity - the Nonsense Number.

]]> By: John Flack http://awads.net/wp/2006/12/08/links-for-2006-12-08/comment-page-1/#comment-50228 John Flack Fri, 08 Dec 2006 15:52:45 +0000 http://awads.net/wp/2006/12/08/links-for-2006-12-08/#comment-50228 <p>Nulls may be a problem to relational purists, but they are a practical neccessity for designing real systems for real people. The fact is that some values are in fact unknown. Will you prevent entry of the values that are known, just because some of the values are not known? And yes, nulls have their quirks (I wish that null=null), but the smart developer understands how nulls work and takes them into account.</p> Nulls may be a problem to relational purists, but they are a practical neccessity for designing real systems for real people. The fact is that some values are in fact unknown. Will you prevent entry of the values that are known, just because some of the values are not known? And yes, nulls have their quirks (I wish that null=null), but the smart developer understands how nulls work and takes them into account.

]]> By: Laurent Schneider http://awads.net/wp/2006/12/08/links-for-2006-12-08/comment-page-1/#comment-50225 Laurent Schneider Fri, 08 Dec 2006 11:28:31 +0000 http://awads.net/wp/2006/12/08/links-for-2006-12-08/#comment-50225 <p>my 2 cents on <i>NULL values in a database</i></p> <p>I strongly disagree with the conclusion of the article. Even if I could understand that "unknown" gender is somewhat confusing and could lead to poor data quality, it is highly irrelevant to fill all optional columns of your data with 0 or space. I hate much more queries like <i>where x = ' '</i>, but because a developer hated nulls at that time.</p> <p>Also deeply stupid are datamodels where the child table (cardinality 1:0,n) has ID=-1 for inexistant childs, which is completely misleading, for both dba and optimiser.</p> <p>I do not have nulls. The one I do not like too much is <i>length('') is null</i>, but as written in doc 7,8,8i,9,10,11, it may change in a next release :evil:</p> my 2 cents on NULL values in a database

I strongly disagree with the conclusion of the article. Even if I could understand that “unknown” gender is somewhat confusing and could lead to poor data quality, it is highly irrelevant to fill all optional columns of your data with 0 or space. I hate much more queries like where x = ‘ ‘, but because a developer hated nulls at that time.

Also deeply stupid are datamodels where the child table (cardinality 1:0,n) has ID=-1 for inexistant childs, which is completely misleading, for both dba and optimiser.

I do not have nulls. The one I do not like too much is length(”) is null, but as written in doc 7,8,8i,9,10,11, it may change in a next release :evil:

]]>