> If you have missing values in your datarecord then that datarecord belongs in an exception-queue. This depends on the context, no? I doubt there exists someo

> If you have missing values in your datarecord then that datarecord belongs in an exception-queue. This depends on the context, no? I doubt there exists someone with a contact list on their phone which has every single field for every single contact populated. There needs to be some way to codify that a field in a datarecord is unpopulated. Using the "zero value" for the type of the field (e.g., the empty string) is reasonable, but is this necessarily better than NULL? I reckon an argument can be made that this approach is just as likely to lead to bugs. I'm not necessarily in favor of NULL, for what it's worth, but I can't think of an adequate replacement which doesn't reduce to "NULL in sheep's clothing".