RE: Date() (use of nulls)

Joe,

Only for strings!  I hate doing:

String something = resultset.getString (9);
if (something.equals ("value"))
      dosomething;

only to get a null pointer exception because that field happens to be
retrieved by a LEFT JOIN and there's no corresponding record in the joined
table and so getString returns a null instead of "".  Its like, if
something == null, then clearly it doesn't equal "value", so just give me
False dammit :-)

I know I could use:
if ("value".equals (something))
      dosomething;
instead, but I dearly hate using string constants as objects like that :-)

For all other object types I find nulls totally natural + the right way to
go.  Probably me showing my background tho, my background is really Delphi
(OO) based instead of RPG so I'm used to nulls (RPG storing "nothingness"
as a string of spaces really, really bugs me), and funnily enough in
Delphi, Strings are not objects and you can't set them to null, they're
primitive types just like int, although of course you can create an object
container for them similar to the Java Integer type.

Nigel Gay,
Computer Patent Annuities.





|---------+------------------------------>
|         |           "Joe Pluta"        |
|         |           <joepluta@plutabrot|
|         |           hers.com>          |
|         |           Sent by:           |
|         |           java400-l-bounces@m|
|         |           idrange.com        |
|         |                              |
|         |                              |
|         |           17/06/2005 03:04 PM|
|         |           Please respond to  |
|         |           Java Programming on|
|         |           and around the     |
|         |           iSeries / AS400    |
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  |       To:       "'Java Programming on and around the iSeries / AS400'" 
<java400-l@xxxxxxxxxxxx>              |
  |       cc:                                                                   
                                 |
  |       Subject:  RE: Date()                                                  
                                 |
  
>--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|




> From: RPower@xxxxxxxxxx
>
> Sorry... guess old RPG habits are hard to ignore.....
> I'll conform.  I can change.  Hehe.  Null it is.

I hate null indicators.  I hate the extra space in the file.  I hate the
syntax of the %nullind BIF.  I hate everything about them.  Doesn't
matter what I think, however <g>.  They're the right way to identify
that a field has not been entered.

But it still takes an effort of will to actually use them.  Does anybody
else have this unnatural predisposition against null indicators, or is
it just me?

Joe

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