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The string ‘’ is as arbitrarily blank as 0 is a blank integer.
by SnowHill9902 4y ago
The string ‘’ is as arbitrarily blank as 0 is a blank integer.
- wongarsu 4y agoThere are two "blank" integers: 0 is the identity element under addition, 1 is the identity element under multiplication. Or worded differently 0 is a blank addend, 1 is a blank multiplier. ‘’ would be the identity element for string concatenation, or any other string manipulation method I can think of, so it has a stronger claim on being blank than a 0 has. Unless your string is later parsed as something else. A blank JSON value would look differently from a blank phone number.
- SnowHill9902 4y agoSure, but it’s arbitrary from a data structure standpoint and sloppy design.
- ryanbrunner 4y agoSQL gives you no other options though, there's no other construct that means "not present", since NULL is unknown vs. not present.
- SnowHill9902 4y agoIt depends on your column. If you have a products table and a certain handmade product has no upc, it’s correct to use ‘’ as its value rather than NULL because you know for a fact that its non-existent. Some people respect NULL too much.