Re: So what's null then if it's not nothing?
Date: 24 Nov 2005 13:57:32 -0800
Message-ID: <1132869452.122091.16650_at_g49g2000cwa.googlegroups.com>
FrankHamersley wrote:
> michael_at_preece.net wrote:
> > Hugo Kornelis wrote:
> >>On Wed, 23 Nov 2005 01:09:56 GMT, Frank Hamersley wrote:
> >>>Hugo Kornelis wrote:
> >>>[..]
[snip]
> >>>Is "<Person><Name>Hugo Kornelis</Name></Person>" the same as
> >>>"<Person><Name>Hugo Kornelis</Name><Birthday></Birthday></Person>"?
> >>
[snip]
> >>I the first XML string, there is no Birthday attribute
> >>for me. It's missing. In SQL, this would be represented by NULL in the
> >>table, or my omitting the row if the birthday were stored in a seperate
> >>table.
> >
> > Omitting the row sounds right. Using NULL is certainly wrong. The thing
> > doesn't exist. Nor does <WhatYouDidLastNight/>. Using NULL for
> > everything that doesn't exist would take up a considerable amount of
> > storage space - like the size of the known universe and more.
>
> Everything after the 1st sentence of the preceding para itself is worthy
> of NULL. Nuff said!
>
[snip]
Mike. Received on Thu Nov 24 2005 - 22:57:32 CET