On Thu, Sep 18, 2003 at 12:44:10PM +0100, Haydies wrote: > I have only one thing to say really on this. Data never has any meaning at > all. It is simply data, and not information. Information is extracted from > data and is then given meaning by the viewer of the data.
True. We were arguing about how to deal with meanings assigned by users. The words "meaning" and "definition" occur frequently in the thread. > In the case of NULL I have always thought of it is simply "undefined". Thats > what Orecal says it is, and Paradox, Interbase, informix, and the if I type > the list of databases I've used where that was the general idea it will go > on and on and on all day long :-) It's a good definition, but it doesn't tell database designers when to use NULL. "Unknown" and "Inapplicable" give some guidance, whatever other problems they cause. > As an aside, it was a sad day when codd died. Michael Stonebreaker may be the Codd of the current generation, but Edward was the Codd of our fathers. <ducking and running> Bob Hall -- MySQL General Mailing List For list archives: http://lists.mysql.com/mysql To unsubscribe: http://lists.mysql.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]
