Re: Oracle NULL vs '' revisited

Brian Peasland wrote:
> STUDENT EXAM1 EXAM2
> Bob 75 82
> Tom 83
> Kristi 94 92
> Chick 56 47
>
> So what does the entry for Tom in EXAM2 mean? There is a row in the
> table after all!

Correct. So if Tom just got everything wrong he gets a 0. If the TA hasn't reviewed the result yet that would be a NULL. Or perhaps Tom was sick and is going to do the exam later.

Now let's use:
Firstname, Middlename, Lastname

George                 Bush

Which one do I mean?
If Middlename is an empty string then Sr. If Middlename is NULL it could be either. It's not specified.

There are plenty of debates about the usage of NULL in general in data bases.

You know me under 'Serge' NULL 'Rielau'. Homeland Security should not confuse that with 'Serge' '' 'Rielau' because that ain't me.

Cheers
Serge

-- 
Serge Rielau
DB2 Solutions Development
IBM Toronto Lab