----- Original Message -----
Sent: Monday, October 14, 2002 3:39
PM
Subject: RE: No Nulls? (was: Warehouse
design: snowflake vs star schem
"No application that I can reasonably think of should
use NULLS, except those pre-81
where there are obsolete columns."
Everytime somebody says this to me, I ask them:
How do you handle still employed employees in an EMPLOYEE
table
that contains a END_EMPLOYEMENT date
column?
What's your take?
----
Matt Adams - GE Appliances - [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Write a poem about a haircut! But lofty, noble, tragic, full
of love,
treachery, retribution, quiet heroism in the
face of certain doom!
Six lines, cleverly rhymed, and
every word beginning with the letter s!
-----Original Message-----
From:
[EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Sent: Monday, October 14, 2002 2:29 PM
To:
Multiple recipients of list ORACLE-L
Subject: Re:No
Nulls? (was: Warehouse design: snowflake vs star schem
Jesse,
I'll refrain from personal comments, but on
CJ's quote, he's correct. Nulls
are an
oddity. They cannot be true or false (<column_name> = NULL
or
<column_name> != NULL), nor can they equal
anything. They are in effect a third
logical
state of nothingness. You also have to code most applications
with
indicator variables to check for their
existence. All in all a real pain in the
backside. BUT, if you give me the possibility that nulls exist in
the data I
much prefer using them vs. many a third
party solution of a single space. No
application
that I can reasonably think of should use NULLS, except those pre-81
where there are obsolete columns.
Dick Goulet
____________________Reply Separator____________________
Author: "Jesse; Rich" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: 10/14/2002 9:33
AM
On the link below is this quote from C.J.Date:
"I don't want you to think that my SQL solution to your
problem means I
advocate the use of nulls. Nulls
are a disaster."
Of course, he doesn't expound upon it (probably not a need
except for
dummies like me). Anyone care to
comment? (On the quote, not on my
dumminess...)
Rich
Rich
Jesse
System/Database Administrator
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Quad/Tech International, Sussex, WI USA
> -----Original Message-----
>
From: Robson, Peter [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
> Sent: Monday, October 14, 2002 4:59 AM
> To: Multiple recipients of list ORACLE-L
> Subject: RE: Warehouse design: snowflake vs star schemas
>
>
> Just for the record (and perhaps to confirm that there are
> always two sides
> to
a story). Readers may like to see the article Chris Date
> wrote to Ralph
> Kemball on the subject
of business rules and integrity constraints:
>
> http://www.dbdebunk.com/kimball1.htm
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Author: Jesse, Rich
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