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From:Martijn Tonies Date:April 26 2005 2:42pm
Subject:Re: why NOT NULL in PRIMARY key??
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> > A primary key absolutely forbids duplicate values.
> >
> > Indexes created with the UNIQUE keyword do not allow duplicates, except
> > for the special case that multiple NULL values are allowed.
>
> I realise that it may (and is) defined in such a way, but it still does
not
> explain *why* part of a PRIMARY key might not be NULL.

Because a value in a PK should uniquely identify a row.

Using one or more NULLs negates this...

The best systems don't use NULLs at all. NULL is an abomination.

You should only store "values" that are "true".

Eg: employee with number 1 has a name of "Martijn".

If "salary" is optional, do not make it nullable, but create a separate
table "employee_salaries".

This way, there's never NULL confusion either.

With regards,

Martijn Tonies
Database Workbench - developer tool for InterBase, Firebird, MySQL & MS SQL
Server
Upscene Productions
http://www.upscene.com
Thread
• why NOT NULL in PRIMARY key??Jigal van Hemert26 Apr
  • Re: why NOT NULL in PRIMARY key??Martijn Tonies26 Apr
  • Re: why NOT NULL in PRIMARY key??Jochem van Dieten26 Apr
  • Re: why NOT NULL in PRIMARY key??Jigal van Hemert26 Apr
  • Re: why NOT NULL in PRIMARY key??Harald Fuchs26 Apr
  • Re: why NOT NULL in PRIMARY key??Jigal van Hemert26 Apr
    • Re: why NOT NULL in PRIMARY key??SGreen26 Apr
      • Att. Shawn GreenJigal van Hemert2 May
  • Re: why NOT NULL in PRIMARY key??Dawid Kuroczko26 Apr
  • Re: why NOT NULL in PRIMARY key??Jigal van Hemert26 Apr
    • Re: why NOT NULL in PRIMARY key??Jochem van Dieten26 Apr
  • Re: why NOT NULL in PRIMARY key??Jigal van Hemert26 Apr
    • Re: why NOT NULL in PRIMARY key??Paul DuBois26 Apr
  • Re: why NOT NULL in PRIMARY key??Martijn Tonies26 Apr
  • Re: why NOT NULL in PRIMARY key??Mikhail Entaltsev26 Apr
  • Re: why NOT NULL in PRIMARY key??Jigal van Hemert26 Apr
  • Re: why NOT NULL in PRIMARY key??Harald Fuchs26 Apr
  • Re: why NOT NULL in PRIMARY key??Martijn Tonies26 Apr
  • Re: why NOT NULL in PRIMARY key??Jigal van Hemert27 Apr
    • Re: why NOT NULL in PRIMARY key??Peter Brawley27 Apr
  • Re: why NOT NULL in PRIMARY key??Jigal van Hemert27 Apr
    • Re: why NOT NULL in PRIMARY key??Frank Bax27 Apr
    • Re: why NOT NULL in PRIMARY key??Peter Brawley27 Apr
    • Re: why NOT NULL in PRIMARY key??Joerg Bruehe27 Apr
  • Re: why NOT NULL in PRIMARY key??Jigal van Hemert28 Apr
• RE: why NOT NULL in PRIMARY key??Jay Blanchard26 Apr
  • Re: why NOT NULL in PRIMARY key??Jigal van Hemert26 Apr
    • Re: why NOT NULL in PRIMARY key??Paul DuBois26 Apr
  • RE: why NOT NULL in PRIMARY key??Frank Bax26 Apr
  • Re: why NOT NULL in PRIMARY key??Jigal van Hemert26 Apr
    • Re: why NOT NULL in PRIMARY key??Paul DuBois26 Apr
  • Re: why NOT NULL in PRIMARY key??Martijn Tonies26 Apr
  • Re: why NOT NULL in PRIMARY key??Jigal van Hemert26 Apr
    • Re: why NOT NULL in PRIMARY key??Paul DuBois26 Apr
    • Re: why NOT NULL in PRIMARY key??Peter Brawley26 Apr
• RE: why NOT NULL in PRIMARY key??emierzwa26 Apr
  • RE: why NOT NULL in PRIMARY key??SGreen26 Apr
  • Re: why NOT NULL in PRIMARY key??Martijn Tonies26 Apr
• RE: why NOT NULL in PRIMARY key??Jay Blanchard26 Apr
  • Re: why NOT NULL in PRIMARY key??Dawid Kuroczko27 Apr
  • Re: why NOT NULL in PRIMARY key??Martijn Tonies27 Apr
• RE: why NOT NULL in PRIMARY key??emierzwa26 Apr
• Re: why NOT NULL in PRIMARY key??beacker30 Apr
  • Re: why NOT NULL in PRIMARY key??Jigal van Hemert1 May
  • Re: why NOT NULL in PRIMARY key??Martijn Tonies1 May