From oracle-l-bounce@freelists.org Mon Aug 8 10:38:34 2005 Return-Path: Received: from air891.startdedicated.com (root@localhost) by orafaq.com (8.12.10/8.12.10) with ESMTP id j78FcYPj018096 for ; Mon, 8 Aug 2005 10:38:34 -0500 X-ClientAddr: 206.53.239.180 Received: from turing.freelists.org (freelists-180.iquest.net [206.53.239.180]) by air891.startdedicated.com (8.12.10/8.12.10) with ESMTP id j78FcUIP018083 for ; Mon, 8 Aug 2005 10:38:30 -0500 Received: from localhost (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by turing.freelists.org (Avenir Technologies Mail Multiplex) with ESMTP id C37621DD478; Mon, 8 Aug 2005 10:38:27 -0500 (EST) Received: from turing.freelists.org ([127.0.0.1]) by localhost (turing [127.0.0.1]) (amavisd-new, port 10024) with ESMTP id 07439-01; Mon, 8 Aug 2005 10:38:27 -0500 (EST) Received: from turing (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by turing.freelists.org (Avenir Technologies Mail Multiplex) with ESMTP id 3EFA21DC7EA; Mon, 8 Aug 2005 10:38:27 -0500 (EST) X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft Exchange V6.5.7226.0 Content-class: urn:content-classes:message MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-MIME-Autoconverted: from quoted-printable to 8bit by Ecartis Subject: RE: Counterquestion - is Oracle a He or a She - or an It or Date: Mon, 8 Aug 2005 11:36:34 -0400 Message-ID: X-MS-Has-Attach: X-MS-TNEF-Correlator: Thread-Topic: Counterquestion - is Oracle a He or a She - or an It or Thread-Index: AcWcLZpxj5t13yvpS1SBdcXZP6ZsYAAACnZQ From: "Mercadante, Thomas F (LABOR)" To: , Cc: X-OriginalArrivalTime: 08 Aug 2005 15:36:36.0109 (UTC) FILETIME=[F6177BD0:01C59C2E] X-archive-position: 23562 X-ecartis-version: Ecartis v1.0.0 Sender: oracle-l-bounce@freelists.org Errors-To: oracle-l-bounce@freelists.org X-original-sender: Thomas.Mercadante@labor.state.ny.us Precedence: normal Reply-To: Thomas.Mercadante@labor.state.ny.us X-list: oracle-l X-Virus-Scanned: by amavisd-new-20030616-p9 (Debian) at avenirtech.net X-mailscan-MailScanner-Information: Please contact the ISP for more information X-mailscan-MailScanner: Found to be clean X-MailScanner-From: oracle-l-bounce@freelists.org X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 2.63 (2004-01-11) on air891.startdedicated.com X-Spam-Status: No, hits=-3.1 required=5.0 tests=AWL,BAYES_00 autolearn=ham version=2.63 Leandro, I don't believe Nulls are ambiguous at all. Maybe to you they are, but not to me. They mean nothing. They are the great void. They cannot be interpreted to mean anything else. Quite simple really. It is up to the application to properly deal with them. A properly designed application may force the user to fill in a column. Or maybe for a specific column, a null is appropriate because it does not matter. For example, in the case of the allergy question. It might be appropriate to force the Doctor to select at least one response. Maybe "No Known Allergies" or "Did not Reply" is the appropriate response. This is why we have a NOT NULL constraint. To force something to be entered. But in the case of the question "Have you ever been pregnant?" For a male, this would be appropriate to be null. It might be appropriate for a female also if she did not want to answer the question. So it's all a matter of using the tools that are given to us. Tom -----Original Message----- From: oracle-l-bounce@freelists.org [mailto:oracle-l-bounce@freelists.org] On Behalf Of Leandro Guimaraes Faria C. Dutra Sent: Monday, August 08, 2005 11:21 AM To: jim_kennedy@mentor.com Cc: Niall Litchfield; oracle-l@freelists.org; oracle-l-bounce@freelists.org; psinger1@chartermi.net Subject: RE: Counterquestion - is Oracle a He or a She - or an It or a hermaphrodite oracle-l-bounce@freelists.org gravou em 2005-08-08 12:20:02: > So your DB is context-dependent. NULLs attack. NULLs are ambiguous, their interpretation depend on context. If SQL allowed us to define special values, we'd have a better solution, as currently exist in Tutorial D (only implemented in a toy DBMS, Rel) and D4 (Alphora Dataphor). -- Leandro Guimarães Faria Corcete DUTRA Administrador de Bases de Dados +55 (11) 4390 5383 Toyota do Brasil Ltda ldutra@toyota.com.br São Bernardo do Campo, SP BRASIL This message (including any attachments) is confidential and may be privileged and intended solely for the use of the person/entity to whom it is addressed. If you have received it by mistake please notify the sender by returning via e-mail as well as delete this message from your system. Any unauthorized use or dissemination of this message in whole or in part is prohibited. Please note that e-mails are susceptible to change. TOYOTA DO BRASIL LTDA (including its group companies) shall not be liable for the improper or incomplete transmission of the information contained in this communication, neither for personal, nonbusiness related information nor opinion sent through this email or even for any delay in its receipt or damage to your system. TOYOTA DO BRASIL LTDA (or its group companies) does not guarantee that the integrity of this communication has been kept nor that this communication is free of viruses, interceptions or interference. -- http://www.freelists.org/webpage/oracle-l -- http://www.freelists.org/webpage/oracle-l