Are nulls in a relational database okay? [closed]

by

Nulls are negatively viewed from the perspective of database normalization. The idea being that if a value can be nothing, then you really should split that out into another sparse table such that you don’t require rows for items which have no value.

It’s an effort to make sure all data is valid and valued.

In some cases having a null field is useful, though, especially when you want to avoid yet another join for performance reasons (although this shouldn’t be an issue if the database engine is setup properly, except in extraordinary high performance scenarios.)

-Adam

More Related Contents:

  1. How do you deal with polymorphism in a database?
  2. Method Overloading for null argument
  3. How to design a product table for many kinds of product where each product has many parameters
  4. What is Normalisation (or Normalization)? [closed]
  5. How do you effectively model inheritance in a database?
  6. Database design – articles, blog posts, photos, stories
  7. Schema for a multilanguage database
  8. Calendar Recurring/Repeating Events – Best Storage Method
  9. How to version control a record in a database [closed]
  10. Same data from different entities in Database – Best Practice – Phone numbers example
  11. Sql – Indirect Foreign Key
  12. Defining multiple foreign keys in one table to many tables
  13. What are the lengths of Location Coordinates, latitude and longitude? [closed]
  14. How should I implement this schema in MongoDB?
  15. Why use multiple columns as primary keys (composite primary key)
  16. Database schema which can support specialized properties
  17. How do I design a database to store properties, selecting attributes by synonyms
  18. Composite primary key or not?
  19. Hash Collision – what are the chances? [closed]
  20. Should I have a dedicated primary key field?
  21. How to do method overloading for null argument?
  22. What is the best database schema to support values that are only appropriate to specific rows?
  23. Database design for audit logging [closed]
  24. Should I use a single or multiple database setup for a multi-client application? [closed]
  25. Database Design Best Practices [closed]
  26. Composite PRIMARY KEY enforces NOT NULL constraints on involved columns
  27. A column as primary key or two foreign keys as primary key
  28. How to Store Historical Data [closed]
  29. Designing SQL database to represent OO class hierarchy
  30. Bill of materials database model

Leave a Comment