Re: Problem with NULL values

From: Thomas Parsli <thomas.parsli@startsiden.no> > >I can see that I should have written "I'd rather have my nose-hairs cut >with >[INSER HUGE OBJECT HERE] than playing with NULLs" Right. I think I'd rather play with NULLs. :0) >The reason I don't like NULLs are mainly that sometimes you don't always >know what >happens with them (Informix looks decent there) and -the most important >one- >people sometime forgets to insert values there so it ends up as a NULL when >it >should have been something else. Which is why you can specify a NOT NULL constraint. >I've had some bad experiences with NULLs on older RDBMS (like Ingres) and >should probably not judge Informix by that... No, rather not. :-) ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com

"Obnoxio The Clown" <obnoxio@hotmail.com> writes: > From: Thomas Parsli <thomas.parsli@startsiden.no> > > > >I can see that I should have written "I'd rather have my nose-hairs cut > >with > >[INSER HUGE OBJECT HERE] than playing with NULLs" > > Right. I think I'd rather play with NULLs. :0) > > >The reason I don't like NULLs are mainly that sometimes you don't always > >know what > >happens with them (Informix looks decent there) and -the most important > >one- > >people sometime forgets to insert values there so it ends up as a NULL when > >it > >should have been something else. > > Which is why you can specify a NOT NULL constraint. And then your back to the problem with "unknown":) > >I've had some bad experiences with NULLs on older RDBMS (like Ingres) and > >should probably not judge Informix by that... > > No, rather not. :-) Allrighty then... Thomas

In article <3doq5dw7.fsf@ss1.nextel.no>, Thomas Parsli <thomas.parsli@startsiden.no> writes: .. > "Obnoxio The Clown" <obnoxio@hotmail.com> writes: > .. Hello everybody I have followed this discussion, but I don't understand what your problem is. I use NULL-values, when some value is not 0 but unknown or not set or something similar. If some value should not be unknown I set it NOT NULL. It is really simple. And the sum of some value and an unknown value is really unknown. If some rdbms tells you somethin abigious or something you don't understand, you should think about it until you understand, why it is the way it tells you or take a rdbms, which works right (like Informix). Tommi Mäkitalo