maria-discuss team mailing list archive

[Tom Worster <fsb@xxxxxxxxxx>]

On 2/3/15, 10:24 AM, "Justin Swanhart" <greenlion@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

>NULL and missing are two different concepts.  Null means unknown, not
>missing.  The data structure should have an ability to store NULL to be
>compatible with RDBMS semantics.  While a dynamic column is similar to a
>NoSQL document store it is not one, and should support SQL semantics.
>
>IMHO
>
>--Justin


Hi Justin,

My understanding has always been basically what Wikipedia says:

>> Null is a special marker used in Structured Query Language (SQL) to
>>indicate that a data value does not exist in the database. Introduced by
>>the creator of the relational database model, E. F. Codd, SQL Null
>>serves to fulfill the requirement that all true relational database
>>management systems (RDBMS) support a representation of "missing
>>information and inapplicable information".

What does Null represent if not the above?

Tom