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mr. null

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  • J Jorgen Andersson

    I wonder how this is handled in Typescript?

    Wrong is evil and must be defeated. - Jeff Ello

    Sander RosselS Offline
    Sander RosselS Offline
    Sander Rossel
    wrote on last edited by
    #10

    The only way to handle this is simply "if (name)"... Even "if (name === null)" evaluates to true if name is "null"! :~ And it gets worse "name === undefined" is also true for name is "null"... That's not even close! Well, undefined === null, but that's just bullcrap. As is JavaScript X|

    Visit my blog at Sander's bits - Writing the code you need. Or read my articles at my CodeProject profile.

    Simplicity is prerequisite for reliability. — Edsger W. Dijkstra

    Regards, Sander

    Richard DeemingR 1 Reply Last reply
    0
    • J Jorgen Andersson

      They don't do any actual conversions, it's an abstraction. The "null pointer" has been swapped for a type of its own. This works just fine as long as you're having a strongly typed language. Which JavaScript spit isn't. I did some research yesterday evening and it seems like C# does the same.

      Wrong is evil and must be defeated. - Jeff Ello

      L Offline
      L Offline
      Lost User
      wrote on last edited by
      #11

      In C#, the string "null" does not equall a null-pointer. Type 'null' in a textbox, you get a Unicode string with the text.

      Bastard Programmer from Hell :suss: If you can't read my code, try converting it here[^][](X-Clacks-Overhead: GNU Terry Pratchett)

      T 1 Reply Last reply
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      • Sander RosselS Sander Rossel

        The only way to handle this is simply "if (name)"... Even "if (name === null)" evaluates to true if name is "null"! :~ And it gets worse "name === undefined" is also true for name is "null"... That's not even close! Well, undefined === null, but that's just bullcrap. As is JavaScript X|

        Visit my blog at Sander's bits - Writing the code you need. Or read my articles at my CodeProject profile.

        Simplicity is prerequisite for reliability. — Edsger W. Dijkstra

        Regards, Sander

        Richard DeemingR Offline
        Richard DeemingR Offline
        Richard Deeming
        wrote on last edited by
        #12

        Which flavour of javascript are you using? I've tried in Firefox, Chrome, IE11 and Edge, and I can't get it to think that "null" is equal to null or undefined at all. :confused: Try this test script: https://jsfiddle.net/bfg9cxg2/[^]


        "These people looked deep within my soul and assigned me a number based on the order in which I joined." - Homer

        "These people looked deep within my soul and assigned me a number based on the order in which I joined" - Homer

        Sander RosselS T 2 Replies Last reply
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        • Richard DeemingR Richard Deeming

          Which flavour of javascript are you using? I've tried in Firefox, Chrome, IE11 and Edge, and I can't get it to think that "null" is equal to null or undefined at all. :confused: Try this test script: https://jsfiddle.net/bfg9cxg2/[^]


          "These people looked deep within my soul and assigned me a number based on the order in which I joined." - Homer

          Sander RosselS Offline
          Sander RosselS Offline
          Sander Rossel
          wrote on last edited by
          #13

          I just realized I've switched == and !=... If stupidity hurt I'd be in agonizing pain right now! :laugh:

          Visit my blog at Sander's bits - Writing the code you need. Or read my articles at my CodeProject profile.

          Simplicity is prerequisite for reliability. — Edsger W. Dijkstra

          Regards, Sander

          1 Reply Last reply
          0
          • L Lost User

            A text-string that literally says "null" in ASCII or Unicode gets translated to a null-pointer in which language? :rolleyes:

            Bastard Programmer from Hell :suss: If you can't read my code, try converting it here[^][](X-Clacks-Overhead: GNU Terry Pratchett)

            T Offline
            T Offline
            TheGreatAndPowerfulOz
            wrote on last edited by
            #14

            Yeah, that's what I was thinking. What bassakward software is written to see a "null" STRING as a null object pointer. WTF? Very poorly written software. And I'm wondering just how real this is?

            Decrease the belief in God, and you increase the numbers of those who wish to play at being God by being “society’s supervisors,” who deny the existence of divine standards, but are very serious about imposing their own standards on society.-Neal A. Maxwell You must accept 1 of 2 basic premises: Either we are alone in the universe or we are not alone. Either way, the implications are staggering!-Wernher von Braun

            L 1 Reply Last reply
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            • J Jorgen Andersson

              Java[^] for example. But which other languages does the same?

              Wrong is evil and must be defeated. - Jeff Ello

              T Offline
              T Offline
              TheGreatAndPowerfulOz
              wrote on last edited by
              #15

              Really? Java converts a string variable with the contents "null" into a null object pointer? Really? I think maybe you mean JavaScript, but even then that doesn't do what you suggest (convert a string containing "null" to a null pointer).

              Decrease the belief in God, and you increase the numbers of those who wish to play at being God by being “society’s supervisors,” who deny the existence of divine standards, but are very serious about imposing their own standards on society.-Neal A. Maxwell You must accept 1 of 2 basic premises: Either we are alone in the universe or we are not alone. Either way, the implications are staggering!-Wernher von Braun

              J 1 Reply Last reply
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              • L Lost User

                In C#, the string "null" does not equall a null-pointer. Type 'null' in a textbox, you get a Unicode string with the text.

                Bastard Programmer from Hell :suss: If you can't read my code, try converting it here[^][](X-Clacks-Overhead: GNU Terry Pratchett)

                T Offline
                T Offline
                TheGreatAndPowerfulOz
                wrote on last edited by
                #16

                Exactly. I think Mr Jörgen is confused.

                Decrease the belief in God, and you increase the numbers of those who wish to play at being God by being “society’s supervisors,” who deny the existence of divine standards, but are very serious about imposing their own standards on society.-Neal A. Maxwell You must accept 1 of 2 basic premises: Either we are alone in the universe or we are not alone. Either way, the implications are staggering!-Wernher von Braun

                1 Reply Last reply
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                • Richard DeemingR Richard Deeming

                  Which flavour of javascript are you using? I've tried in Firefox, Chrome, IE11 and Edge, and I can't get it to think that "null" is equal to null or undefined at all. :confused: Try this test script: https://jsfiddle.net/bfg9cxg2/[^]


                  "These people looked deep within my soul and assigned me a number based on the order in which I joined." - Homer

                  T Offline
                  T Offline
                  TheGreatAndPowerfulOz
                  wrote on last edited by
                  #17

                  I modified it to test for "undefined == null" and "undefined === null" and only the "==" (double eq) succeeded in being "equal".

                  Decrease the belief in God, and you increase the numbers of those who wish to play at being God by being “society’s supervisors,” who deny the existence of divine standards, but are very serious about imposing their own standards on society.-Neal A. Maxwell You must accept 1 of 2 basic premises: Either we are alone in the universe or we are not alone. Either way, the implications are staggering!-Wernher von Braun

                  Richard DeemingR 1 Reply Last reply
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                  • B Brisingr Aerowing

                    For websites and stuff to fail like that is really worrying. Shouldn't those just be strings?

                    What do you get when you cross a joke with a rhetorical question? The metaphorical solid rear-end expulsions have impacted the metaphorical motorized bladed rotating air movement mechanism. Do questions with multiple question marks annoy you???

                    T Offline
                    T Offline
                    TheGreatAndPowerfulOz
                    wrote on last edited by
                    #18

                    There's probably some code somewhere in the frontend/backend that's comparing the string to "null" because the developers doughheads decided that was the way to represent (no data) for certain db fields instead of using the more reasonable dbnull field concept.

                    Decrease the belief in God, and you increase the numbers of those who wish to play at being God by being “society’s supervisors,” who deny the existence of divine standards, but are very serious about imposing their own standards on society.-Neal A. Maxwell You must accept 1 of 2 basic premises: Either we are alone in the universe or we are not alone. Either way, the implications are staggering!-Wernher von Braun

                    B 2 Replies Last reply
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                    • T TheGreatAndPowerfulOz

                      I modified it to test for "undefined == null" and "undefined === null" and only the "==" (double eq) succeeded in being "equal".

                      Decrease the belief in God, and you increase the numbers of those who wish to play at being God by being “society’s supervisors,” who deny the existence of divine standards, but are very serious about imposing their own standards on society.-Neal A. Maxwell You must accept 1 of 2 basic premises: Either we are alone in the universe or we are not alone. Either way, the implications are staggering!-Wernher von Braun

                      Richard DeemingR Offline
                      Richard DeemingR Offline
                      Richard Deeming
                      wrote on last edited by
                      #19

                      But that's not the point. The test was whether the string value "null" would compare equal to null or undefined, which it doesn't.

                      "null" === null // false
                      "null" == null // false
                      "null" === undefined // false
                      "null" == undefined // false

                      // Neither of these tests would affect "Mr Null":
                      null === undefined // false
                      null == undefined // true


                      "These people looked deep within my soul and assigned me a number based on the order in which I joined." - Homer

                      "These people looked deep within my soul and assigned me a number based on the order in which I joined" - Homer

                      T 1 Reply Last reply
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                      • Richard DeemingR Richard Deeming

                        But that's not the point. The test was whether the string value "null" would compare equal to null or undefined, which it doesn't.

                        "null" === null // false
                        "null" == null // false
                        "null" === undefined // false
                        "null" == undefined // false

                        // Neither of these tests would affect "Mr Null":
                        null === undefined // false
                        null == undefined // true


                        "These people looked deep within my soul and assigned me a number based on the order in which I joined." - Homer

                        T Offline
                        T Offline
                        TheGreatAndPowerfulOz
                        wrote on last edited by
                        #20

                        Yes, I know, and I understood that already. The claim was made that "undefined == null" and "undefined === null" are equivalent and "fail" but they don't. Both are valid well-defined statements and comparisons.

                        Decrease the belief in God, and you increase the numbers of those who wish to play at being God by being “society’s supervisors,” who deny the existence of divine standards, but are very serious about imposing their own standards on society.-Neal A. Maxwell You must accept 1 of 2 basic premises: Either we are alone in the universe or we are not alone. Either way, the implications are staggering!-Wernher von Braun

                        1 Reply Last reply
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                        • T TheGreatAndPowerfulOz

                          Yeah, that's what I was thinking. What bassakward software is written to see a "null" STRING as a null object pointer. WTF? Very poorly written software. And I'm wondering just how real this is?

                          Decrease the belief in God, and you increase the numbers of those who wish to play at being God by being “society’s supervisors,” who deny the existence of divine standards, but are very serious about imposing their own standards on society.-Neal A. Maxwell You must accept 1 of 2 basic premises: Either we are alone in the universe or we are not alone. Either way, the implications are staggering!-Wernher von Braun

                          L Offline
                          L Offline
                          Lost User
                          wrote on last edited by
                          #21

                          Methinks it isn't. "Null" != "null"; and does it happen to "nulls" also? Come on, a string literal is exactly that, an array of byte in a specific encoding, and it does not magically become a null-pointer. Sound like something only an idiot would parse in each user-input. Then again, the heir to the throne of idiots may have decided that a NVARCHAR text of 'Null' is actually null. I doubt we will find out.

                          Bastard Programmer from Hell :suss: If you can't read my code, try converting it here[^][](X-Clacks-Overhead: GNU Terry Pratchett)

                          T 1 Reply Last reply
                          0
                          • L Lost User

                            Methinks it isn't. "Null" != "null"; and does it happen to "nulls" also? Come on, a string literal is exactly that, an array of byte in a specific encoding, and it does not magically become a null-pointer. Sound like something only an idiot would parse in each user-input. Then again, the heir to the throne of idiots may have decided that a NVARCHAR text of 'Null' is actually null. I doubt we will find out.

                            Bastard Programmer from Hell :suss: If you can't read my code, try converting it here[^][](X-Clacks-Overhead: GNU Terry Pratchett)

                            T Offline
                            T Offline
                            TheGreatAndPowerfulOz
                            wrote on last edited by
                            #22

                            Eddy Vluggen wrote:

                            Methinks it isn't.

                            Agreed.

                            Eddy Vluggen wrote:

                            something only an idiot would parse

                            Indeed.

                            Decrease the belief in God, and you increase the numbers of those who wish to play at being God by being “society’s supervisors,” who deny the existence of divine standards, but are very serious about imposing their own standards on society.-Neal A. Maxwell You must accept 1 of 2 basic premises: Either we are alone in the universe or we are not alone. Either way, the implications are staggering!-Wernher von Braun

                            1 Reply Last reply
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                            • T TheGreatAndPowerfulOz

                              There's probably some code somewhere in the frontend/backend that's comparing the string to "null" because the developers doughheads decided that was the way to represent (no data) for certain db fields instead of using the more reasonable dbnull field concept.

                              Decrease the belief in God, and you increase the numbers of those who wish to play at being God by being “society’s supervisors,” who deny the existence of divine standards, but are very serious about imposing their own standards on society.-Neal A. Maxwell You must accept 1 of 2 basic premises: Either we are alone in the universe or we are not alone. Either way, the implications are staggering!-Wernher von Braun

                              B Offline
                              B Offline
                              Brisingr Aerowing
                              wrote on last edited by
                              #23

                              TheGreatAndPowerfulOz wrote:

                              developers doughheads

                              LOL

                              What do you get when you cross a joke with a rhetorical question? The metaphorical solid rear-end expulsions have impacted the metaphorical motorized bladed rotating air movement mechanism. Do questions with multiple question marks annoy you???

                              1 Reply Last reply
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                              • T TheGreatAndPowerfulOz

                                There's probably some code somewhere in the frontend/backend that's comparing the string to "null" because the developers doughheads decided that was the way to represent (no data) for certain db fields instead of using the more reasonable dbnull field concept.

                                Decrease the belief in God, and you increase the numbers of those who wish to play at being God by being “society’s supervisors,” who deny the existence of divine standards, but are very serious about imposing their own standards on society.-Neal A. Maxwell You must accept 1 of 2 basic premises: Either we are alone in the universe or we are not alone. Either way, the implications are staggering!-Wernher von Braun

                                B Offline
                                B Offline
                                Brisingr Aerowing
                                wrote on last edited by
                                #24

                                Or possibly the management decided that.

                                What do you get when you cross a joke with a rhetorical question? The metaphorical solid rear-end expulsions have impacted the metaphorical motorized bladed rotating air movement mechanism. Do questions with multiple question marks annoy you???

                                T 1 Reply Last reply
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                                • B Brisingr Aerowing

                                  Or possibly the management decided that.

                                  What do you get when you cross a joke with a rhetorical question? The metaphorical solid rear-end expulsions have impacted the metaphorical motorized bladed rotating air movement mechanism. Do questions with multiple question marks annoy you???

                                  T Offline
                                  T Offline
                                  TheGreatAndPowerfulOz
                                  wrote on last edited by
                                  #25

                                  yah, it does sounds like a manager sort of thing to do...

                                  Decrease the belief in God, and you increase the numbers of those who wish to play at being God by being “society’s supervisors,” who deny the existence of divine standards, but are very serious about imposing their own standards on society.-Neal A. Maxwell You must accept 1 of 2 basic premises: Either we are alone in the universe or we are not alone. Either way, the implications are staggering!-Wernher von Braun

                                  1 Reply Last reply
                                  0
                                  • T TheGreatAndPowerfulOz

                                    Really? Java converts a string variable with the contents "null" into a null object pointer? Really? I think maybe you mean JavaScript, but even then that doesn't do what you suggest (convert a string containing "null" to a null pointer).

                                    Decrease the belief in God, and you increase the numbers of those who wish to play at being God by being “society’s supervisors,” who deny the existence of divine standards, but are very serious about imposing their own standards on society.-Neal A. Maxwell You must accept 1 of 2 basic premises: Either we are alone in the universe or we are not alone. Either way, the implications are staggering!-Wernher von Braun

                                    J Offline
                                    J Offline
                                    Jorgen Andersson
                                    wrote on last edited by
                                    #26

                                    I can see that I was quite unclear, or even erroneous, in my answer to Eddy. What I meant to convey was merely the existence of the literal 'null'. This is why I asked "But which other languages does the same". And I know this isn't converted to a null object pointer, 'null' in Java is a type[^] not a pointer. This is the reason I responded to Eddy that it is an abstraction. I'm sorry to have ticked you off so badly.

                                    Wrong is evil and must be defeated. - Jeff Ello

                                    T 1 Reply Last reply
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                                    • Sander RosselS Sander Rossel

                                      My thoughts exactly! It takes A LOT OF WORK to translate "null" into null... :~ At least in the languages I know. Unless...

                                      <script>
                                      var name = 'null';
                                      if (name == null) {
                                      alert("That's a lovely name " + name + '!');
                                      } else {
                                      alert('Please insert a name!');
                                      }
                                      </script>

                                      Yep, JavaScript as always X| And it's only the one language that's used for every website everywhere. Just "if (name)" would've been fine though... JavaScript... Y U DO DIS!? :confused:

                                      Visit my blog at Sander's bits - Writing the code you need. Or read my articles at my CodeProject profile.

                                      Simplicity is prerequisite for reliability. — Edsger W. Dijkstra

                                      Regards, Sander

                                      R Offline
                                      R Offline
                                      Rob Grainger
                                      wrote on last edited by
                                      #27

                                      Running that script in Chrome alerts "Please insert a name". Even JavaScript isn't that bad. Close, but not quite that bad.

                                      "If you don't fail at least 90 percent of the time, you're not aiming high enough." Alan Kay.

                                      Sander RosselS 1 Reply Last reply
                                      0
                                      • R Rob Grainger

                                        Running that script in Chrome alerts "Please insert a name". Even JavaScript isn't that bad. Close, but not quite that bad.

                                        "If you don't fail at least 90 percent of the time, you're not aiming high enough." Alan Kay.

                                        Sander RosselS Offline
                                        Sander RosselS Offline
                                        Sander Rossel
                                        wrote on last edited by
                                        #28

                                        Please see my earlier reaction[^]... :laugh:

                                        Visit my blog at Sander's bits - Writing the code you need. Or read my articles at my CodeProject profile.

                                        Simplicity is prerequisite for reliability. — Edsger W. Dijkstra

                                        Regards, Sander

                                        1 Reply Last reply
                                        0
                                        • J Jorgen Andersson

                                          I can see that I was quite unclear, or even erroneous, in my answer to Eddy. What I meant to convey was merely the existence of the literal 'null'. This is why I asked "But which other languages does the same". And I know this isn't converted to a null object pointer, 'null' in Java is a type[^] not a pointer. This is the reason I responded to Eddy that it is an abstraction. I'm sorry to have ticked you off so badly.

                                          Wrong is evil and must be defeated. - Jeff Ello

                                          T Offline
                                          T Offline
                                          TheGreatAndPowerfulOz
                                          wrote on last edited by
                                          #29

                                          Sorry if I gave the impression that I was "ticked off". I was just surprised that someone would seem to "believe" what you wrote.

                                          Quote:

                                          There is also a special null type, the type of the expression null (§3.10.7, §15.8.1), which has no name.

                                          Doesn't that say that 'null' is an expression whose type is also null? How else can we compare a java reference value (an expression) to null unless null is also an expression (i.e value)?

                                          Decrease the belief in God, and you increase the numbers of those who wish to play at being God by being “society’s supervisors,” who deny the existence of divine standards, but are very serious about imposing their own standards on society.-Neal A. Maxwell You must accept 1 of 2 basic premises: Either we are alone in the universe or we are not alone. Either way, the implications are staggering!-Wernher von Braun

                                          J 1 Reply Last reply
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