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Re: None versus MISSING sentinel -- request for design feedback

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Gregory Ewing wrote:
> Ethan Furman wrote:
>> some of the return values (Logical, Date, DateTime, and probably 
>> Character) will have their own dedicated singletons (Null, NullDate, 
>> NullDateTime, NullChar -- which will all compare equal to None)
> 
> That doesn't seem like a good idea to me. It's common practice
> to use 'is' rather than '==' when comparing things to None.
> 
> Why do you want to use special null values for these types?

Okay, after spending some time thinking about this question
I don't believe I have a good answer.  I think it was probably something 
I thought of back when I started this project (which is basically what I 
learned Python on) and I've since learned enough that whatever reason I 
had back then has been replaced with more thorough knowledge and better 
practices.

The best reason I have at this point is being able to know what the Null 
value is supposed to represent -- True/False, a Date, etc. -- however, 
even that is weakened by my decision to use None for Null in the case of 
Character and Numerics; so there is probably no reason to not use None 
in the case of Logicals, Dates, DateTimes, and Times.

Thank you for the question!

~Ethan~

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Thread

None versus MISSING sentinel -- request for design feedback Steven D'Aprano <steve+comp.lang.python@pearwood.info> - 2011-07-15 15:28 +1000
  Re: None versus MISSING sentinel -- request for design feedback Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2011-07-15 16:08 +1000
    Re: None versus MISSING sentinel -- request for design feedback "bruno.desthuilliers@gmail.com" <bruno.desthuilliers@gmail.com> - 2011-07-15 00:53 -0700
    Re: None versus MISSING sentinel -- request for design feedback Steven D'Aprano <steve+comp.lang.python@pearwood.info> - 2011-07-15 20:46 +1000
      Re: None versus MISSING sentinel -- request for design feedback Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2011-07-15 21:04 +1000
        Re: None versus MISSING sentinel -- request for design feedback Steven D'Aprano <steve+comp.lang.python@pearwood.info> - 2011-07-15 22:48 +1000
          Re: None versus MISSING sentinel -- request for design feedback Mel <mwilson@the-wire.com> - 2011-07-15 09:16 -0400
            Re: None versus MISSING sentinel -- request for design feedback Ethan Furman <ethan@stoneleaf.us> - 2011-07-15 10:18 -0700
              Re: None versus MISSING sentinel -- request for design feedback Gregory Ewing <greg.ewing@canterbury.ac.nz> - 2011-07-16 14:24 +1200
                Re: None versus MISSING sentinel -- request for design feedback Ethan Furman <ethan@stoneleaf.us> - 2011-07-16 17:31 -0700
  Re: None versus MISSING sentinel -- request for design feedback Rob Williscroft <rtw@rtw.me.uk> - 2011-07-15 07:43 +0000
    Re: None versus MISSING sentinel -- request for design feedback Steven D'Aprano <steve+comp.lang.python@pearwood.info> - 2011-07-15 20:19 +1000
      Re: None versus MISSING sentinel -- request for design feedback "OKB (not okblacke)" <brenNOSPAMbarn@NObrenSPAMbarn.net> - 2011-07-15 17:40 +0000
      Re: None versus MISSING sentinel -- request for design feedback Terry Reedy <tjreedy@udel.edu> - 2011-07-15 17:35 -0400
  Re: None versus MISSING sentinel -- request for design feedback Cameron Simpson <cs@zip.com.au> - 2011-07-15 17:44 +1000
    Re: None versus MISSING sentinel -- request for design feedback "bruno.desthuilliers@gmail.com" <bruno.desthuilliers@gmail.com> - 2011-07-15 02:58 -0700
    Re: None versus MISSING sentinel -- request for design feedback Steven D'Aprano <steve+comp.lang.python@pearwood.info> - 2011-07-15 20:17 +1000
      Re: None versus MISSING sentinel -- request for design feedback Cameron Simpson <cs@zip.com.au> - 2011-07-15 20:38 +1000
  Re: None versus MISSING sentinel -- request for design feedback "bruno.desthuilliers@gmail.com" <bruno.desthuilliers@gmail.com> - 2011-07-15 00:59 -0700
  Re: None versus MISSING sentinel -- request for design feedback Teemu Likonen <tlikonen@iki.fi> - 2011-07-15 11:28 +0300
    Re: None versus MISSING sentinel -- request for design feedback "bruno.desthuilliers@gmail.com" <bruno.desthuilliers@gmail.com> - 2011-07-15 03:02 -0700
      Re: None versus MISSING sentinel -- request for design feedback Teemu Likonen <tlikonen@iki.fi> - 2011-07-15 13:56 +0300
  Re: None versus MISSING sentinel -- request for design feedback Eric Snow <ericsnowcurrently@gmail.com> - 2011-07-15 11:02 -0600

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