5 ms·

Which systems use the string "null" to represent a null value? That seems like a bad idea...

jazzyjackson 2y ago
I could see it happening with clumsy JSON parsing. in javascript, JSON.parse("null") would return null, and the string null would have to be JSON.parse('"null"').
threeducks 2y ago
A common source of "NULL" strings are CSVs. I personally had to deal with a database that only understood NULLs correctly when using QUOTE_NOTNULL, which was added to Python just last year: https://github.com/python/cpython/issues/113732 https://github.com/python/cpython/issues/113732 I've also heard of a fun database where the user "Geoffrey" was truncated to "G". I wonder why? (Hint: End of file)
- driggs 2y ago
  > I've also heard of a fun database where the user "Geoffrey" was truncated to "G". I wonder why? (Hint: End of file) Sorry, I don't buy that one. There's no way the ascii string "eof" - especially lower-cased - would be interpreted as the C macro EOF, which is typically represented as the int -1. Sounds like a tall tale unless you've got proof.
  - somat 2y ago
    I could see a poorly coded stringly parsed interface (think sql) triggering on a mid span character sequence. but I agree, it would have to be a real mess of an interface. For example the client uses "eof" to separate or end queries.
  - snailmailstare 2y ago
    I first had to figure out why the G stayed put if it was being treated as last line... I've seen some terrible things and wouldn't doubt that a lot of pages in say the travel industry have a 2%+ failure rate at recording a signup.
  - deleted 2y ago
    [deleted]
  - NoMoreNicksLeft 2y ago
    There are more than a few legacy databases where a person's first name wouldn't be lowercased. I worked for a university awhile back, this is post-2010, and names were stored uppercase.
  - threeducks 2y ago
    Sorry, I don't have first-hand proof. But it seems that this issue is not rare: https://old.reddit.com/r/programminghorror/comments/4g70lj/someones_name_broke_our_code/ https://old.reddit.com/r/programminghorror/comments/4g70lj/s...
- Sohcahtoa82 2y ago
  CSV will go down as one of the greatest mistakes in computer programming.
robin_reala 2y ago
ColdFusion, if I remember correctly.
dartos 2y ago
Never underestimate the amount of bad ideas in code produced by the lowest bidder.

I could see it happening with clumsy JSON parsing. in javascript, JSON.parse("null") would return null, and the string null would have to be JSON.parse('"null"').

threeducks 2y ago

A common source of "NULL" strings are CSVs. I personally had to deal with a database that only understood NULLs correctly when using QUOTE_NOTNULL, which was added to Python just last year: https://github.com/python/cpython/issues/113732 https://github.com/python/cpython/issues/113732 I've also heard of a fun database where the user "Geoffrey" was truncated to "G". I wonder why? (Hint: End of file)

driggs 2y ago
> I've also heard of a fun database where the user "Geoffrey" was truncated to "G". I wonder why? (Hint: End of file) Sorry, I don't buy that one. There's no way the ascii string "eof" - especially lower-cased - would be interpreted as the C macro EOF, which is typically represented as the int -1. Sounds like a tall tale unless you've got proof.
- somat 2y ago
  I could see a poorly coded stringly parsed interface (think sql) triggering on a mid span character sequence. but I agree, it would have to be a real mess of an interface. For example the client uses "eof" to separate or end queries.
- snailmailstare 2y ago
  I first had to figure out why the G stayed put if it was being treated as last line... I've seen some terrible things and wouldn't doubt that a lot of pages in say the travel industry have a 2%+ failure rate at recording a signup.
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
- NoMoreNicksLeft 2y ago
  There are more than a few legacy databases where a person's first name wouldn't be lowercased. I worked for a university awhile back, this is post-2010, and names were stored uppercase.
- threeducks 2y ago
  Sorry, I don't have first-hand proof. But it seems that this issue is not rare: https://old.reddit.com/r/programminghorror/comments/4g70lj/someones_name_broke_our_code/ https://old.reddit.com/r/programminghorror/comments/4g70lj/s...
Sohcahtoa82 2y ago
CSV will go down as one of the greatest mistakes in computer programming.

robin_reala 2y ago

ColdFusion, if I remember correctly.

dartos 2y ago

Never underestimate the amount of bad ideas in code produced by the lowest bidder.