Re: NULL comparisions

arvind wrote:

> You can also use
>
> If Nvl(box1, 'aaa') = Nvl(box2, 'aaa') then
> .

Consider what would happen if "box1" just happened to be set to "aaa" and box2 was null?
It all depends whether "aaa" is a possible value of "box1" or "box2", but surely
a solution which is data independent must be more worthwhile than a half-baked solution which will work now but introduces a token "illegal" value to the code?

I'm seeing parallels with the programming problem of determining the numerically
largest number in an array of numbers: the weak programmers set their target number to be the biggest negative value and then scan the whole array updating their biggest-so-far if they get a bigger number. The smart programmers assume that the first number in the array is the biggest and then check from the second
to the last element looking for a bigger value. Data independent or what?! ;-)

Mungo

--
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