Date: Tue, 30 Jan 2007 11:55:03 -0500
From: Andrew Sullivan <ajs@crankycanuck.ca>
To: pgsql-sql@postgresql.org
Subject: Re: Differentiate Between Zero-Length String and NULLColumn Values
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	<20070130113834.fa8d09e0.darcy@druid.net>
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On Tue, Jan 30, 2007 at 11:38:34AM -0500, D'Arcy J.M. Cain wrote:
> I don't have an Oracle installation here and I haven't used it much but
> I wonder if they treat the following two statements differently.
> 
>    SELECT * FROM table WHERE column IS NULL;
>    SELECT * FROM table WHERE column = NULL;

AFAIK they don't accept the latter any more than we do.  But again,
I'm an Oracle ignoramous.  I _do_ know that people of my acquaintance
who have historically only developed against Oracle have given me
queries with things like 

	value = ''

in it, and been surprised.  Or at least, I think it's like that.  I
do recall hearing a lot about how stupid Postgres was because it
didn't like something that worked "perfectly well" on Oracle, which I
was assured was the most SQL-compliant system on the planet. 
Happily, I no longer work with any of those people :)

A
-- 
Andrew Sullivan  | ajs@crankycanuck.ca
"The year's penultimate month" is not in truth a good way of saying
November.
		--H.W. Fowler