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

<michael_at_preece.net> wrote in message news:1132790275.193031.254020_at_g49g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...

> > The only thing that NULL means is "there's no value here". Period. I'm
> > sorry if that doesn't make sense to you - but that's just the way it is.
>
> That makes perfect sense to me. What's more - I'm in total 100%
> agreement. The confusion only arises when it is interpreted to mean the
> value is absent. Can you see the difference that exists between
> something being present and yet having no value and something being
> absent? That's the whole reason for NULL - to represent something being
> present and yet having no value.
>
> >
> > > Absence is the problem word. If I want something to be
> > >absent I'll delete it from the database.

If I'm reading the aobve right, the whole debate stems from a choice in terminology:

To you, "There's no value here" makes sense. But "there is an absence of a value here" is confusing.

To me, they mean the same thing. Are we close to wrapping this topic up? Received on Thu Nov 24 2005 - 19:42:35 CET