On 6/4/07, Andrew Sullivan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
On Mon, Jun 04, 2007 at 12:37:42AM +0200, PFC wrote:
> NULL usually means "unknown" or "not applicable"

Aaaargh!  No, it doesn't.  It means NULL.  Nothing else.

If it meant unknown or not applicable or anything else, then

        SELECT * FROM nulltbl a, othernulltbl b
                WHERE a.nullcol = b.nullcol

would return rows where a.nullcol contained NULL and b.nullcol
contained NULL.  But it doesn't, because !(NULL = NULL).

I don't disagree with the principle, but that's a specious argument.
Who says (unknown = unknown) should equal true?

Alexander.

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