Re: So what's null then if it's not nothing?

<michael_at_preece.net> wrote in message news:1132524918.521873.311260_at_z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com...

> David,
>
> The arrogance of that post is indeed reminiscent of that infamous
> cretin. How dare you talk down to me like that? What are your
> credentials? I have been programming since learning IBM 360 Assembler
> in 1976 - and I'm a bloody good programmer. I have no doubt that you
> know some things I don't. I am equally sure I have plenty I could
> educate you about.
>
> I do not treat a string that doesn't exist as equal to the empty
> string. A string that doesn't exist is not null. How can it be equal to
> anything, null included, if it doesn't exist? A null does exist though
> - as an empty string. I believe Pick's definition of null is the
> correct one. It makes perfect sense. No confusion. Unlike SQL's
> definition. Admit it.
>

You make my point. If you've been programming since 1976, and you still can't see the difference between the SQL NULL and the empty string, then I'm unlikely to persuade you otherwise, regardless of my credentials or the example I might offer.

So why should I try?

I learned programming in 1962 on the IBM 7090, and on the DEC PDP-1. In 1971, I participated in the oringination of MDL, a Lisp descendant, at MIT's project MAC.
I got exposed to the relational model in about 1981, and to DEC Rdb/VMS in 1983, before it was released.

As you say, I have no doubt that you know some things that I don't, and that I know some things you don't. That, alone, is insufficient to say that you and I can teach each other anything. Received on Mon Nov 21 2005 - 15:45:41 CET