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

In article <1135605677.872037.17610_at_o13g2000cwo.googlegroups.com>, boston103_at_hotmail.com says...
>
> > No, no change. The 'exception' explanation is just sophistry in order to
> > avoid redefining the operators. :)
>
> If so, then you are using your private language in which 'exception'
> means something different from the usual 'terminating the normal
> excution flow and notifying the user about an error'. Using this kind
> of private language is hardly productive or interesting.

It is a long time since this this discussion was productive or interesting. And I did explain what I meant by 'exception' long ago. And the execution flow is terminated (you can stop evaluating as soon as anything turns up null), and the user is notified that the expression is null.

> It does not matter whether one calls such procesing exceptional or
> unexceptional. What matters is the fact that 2 + NULL results in NULL.
> In the math language, it's interpreted as an addition operation
> applied to two elements of some set and producing an element of the
> same set. What description/interpretation can be simpler ?

One that doesn't require something to be an element of all sets, and not equal to itself. YMMV, and obviously does.

-- 
Jon