Re: Do we really need NULL??

In article <3abt9u$o8m_at_net.auckland.ac.nz>, amccullo_at_ccu1.auckland.ac.nz (Alan MCCulloch) writes: Path: news.eunet.fi!EU.net!Germany.EU.net!howland.reston.ans.net!wupost!waikato!auckland.ac.nz!ccu1.auckland.ac.nz!amccullo From: amccullo_at_ccu1.auckland.ac.nz (Alan MCCulloch) Newsgroups: comp.databases.oracle
Subject: Re: Do we really need NULL??
Date: Wed, 16 Nov 94 05:11:58 EET
Organization: University of Auckland
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> Alan MCCulloch writes
> ...
>
> The ideal solution would be the ability to define new datatypes
> other than CHAR, NUMBER etc. I'm not exactly sure what an
> "object oeriented" database is, but I'm pretty sure from some recent
> reading that the ability to define new data-types is, or will be,
> one of the characteristics of these beasts, just as it is a
> characteristic of OO languages, like C++. E.G. we would want
> to define a datatype that contained within itself an indication
> of its own status.

 You do not need an OODB to do things like that. Modern RDBM systems (eg INGRES) have had user defined datatypes for years.

        Ari

--
Ari Kaartinen             Tekla Oy, Koronakatu 1, SF-02210 Espoo Finland
Ari.Kaartinen_at_tekla.fi    Tel:   +358-0-8879511   Fax:   +358-0-8039489