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Null values are so important in representing data. But they cause so much confusion in a) unexpected behaviors in queries and b) inconsistent handling across v
by mwexler 7y ago
Null values are so important in representing data. But they cause so much confusion in a) unexpected behaviors in queries and b) inconsistent handling across various engines... I sometimes wish <whisper> that they hadn't been included in the spec at all </whisper>. But then I come to my senses again, and go fix yet another bugged query for an analyst who didn't account for nulls in the data.
- paulryanrogers 7y agoDoes it make sense to coalesce them away in a view? I thought most analysts are given star schemas implemented by views or ETL'd data anyway.
- mwexler 7y agoDepends on the level of sophistication of the analyst, and if nulls have a meaning or value to the result. Also, at a certain point, knowing that nulls are present gives you yet another measure of dq: not knowing if they are present and hidden vs. visible and countable can be the difference between a wrong answer vs. just an uncertain one.