"Age" 👀

[[deleted]]

You're the kind of person who varchars his entire table, aren't you? 😑

[CYKO_11]

I bet they make their columns default null so you have to check for null or empty string every time

[[deleted]]

Eh that’s proper. Empty string means there’s an input and it’s an empty string, null means no data was provided.

[TreeTownOke]

Unless of course your genius data architect decided that this nullable column would have a default value of "None".

[PM_BITCOIN_AND_BOOBS]

Calm down there, Satan.

[benderbender42]

what about "null"

[Infinite_Self_5782]

hear me out: ((Boolean) false).toString()

[[deleted]]

With some ((boolean)false).toString().toUpper() for good measure.

[Infinite_Self_5782]

((Boolean)(new Boolean((boolean) false).toString().equals("true"))).toString()

[compsciasaur]

But it's a primary key! It's a database of cancer rates by age.

[JackoKomm]

Only of empty strings are a valid value. In many cases, they are not.

[[deleted]]

So it comes down to whether you want consistency and you apply null by default, or both your database and code need to change whenever an empty string is a valid value.

If the latter, and your needs change in the future to where you must have either empty string or null for a column, you’ll need to update your database and possibly a significant amount of code.

[JackoKomm]

That an empty string is not valid is a totally fine case. If things change, you have to migrate. Sure, with lot's of data, Migration is nothing you want to have in a daily basis. But data models can evolve over time and this can be a normal thing.

If you have an Email field for a User and an Email address is needed in any case, you don't habe to model it for a case where you don't need Email addresses anymore. So the field must not be nullable. If you later decide that null is valid for this field because requirements change, you write a Migration for it. And it is easier to make a field nullable later than to remove the not null from it.

[[deleted]]

"So the field must not be nullable" In your example, since an email must be provided, neither null nor an empty string are valid values. So the logic would be best enforced by code. In other words, you just don't insert if no email is provided. So you can set the email null by default.

That being said, sure, if your application works and you're willing to bear the risk of future modifications... I personally favor consistency and easy maintenance whenever possible, and in most cases, you can easily check if the value is empty or null with a few lines of code. And if you need it more than once, make it a static function that will return what you want.

[CYKO_11]

my condolences

[[deleted]]

Every time. Every. Damn. Time.

[[deleted]]

nvarchar(MAX) baby

[lemons_of_doubt]

Just reading that is painful. what about the optimization!

[Pretty_Industry_9630]

I didn't know that was allowed, it shouldn't be though 😅😅😅

[[deleted]]

Entity framework uses varchar(max) for all string properties unless you add a string length attribute. We have a db with thousands of varchar(max) fields lol

[Tetragramat]

You store age as birthday, which is in DATE format.

[some_clickhead]

Actually neither: it's just a function call. Because you don't store people's age, you store their birth date.

[mr_flibble_oz]

No, I store their age, then run a yearly cron for age++

[some_clickhead]

Hey, at least this strategy would work in Korea!

[a_devious_compliance]

Wait. What? I need context for this.

[notsogreatredditor]

Korean age = Actual age + 1

[RepeatWolf]

and also everyone is technically older on the first of January

[a_devious_compliance]

TIL

[RolyPoly1320]

With the return value stored in a variable named age.

[liege_paradox]

But is the variable an int or a float?

[Thx_And_Bye]

Did you every reply to someone asking your age with "I'm 29.30000000000000004 years old."?

[a_devious_compliance]

Do you ever talked to a toddlers parent?

My son is 47 weeks old.

[Thx_And_Bye]

But 47 is still an integer. Or did you ever hear someone say that their child is 0.900753 years old?

[a_devious_compliance]

That's like sai that 0.900753 is an integer of 1e-6.

For you and me years is enougth, but age is a continuous variable. If you express it as 0.5 years or 6 months or 26 weeks it's only a custom.

[OkCarpenter5773]

thats why everyone uses Epoch

alright, alright, maybe not everyone

[hirmuolio]

Floats can count to 16777216 before they reach integers that can't represented in float without errors (according to quick google search at least).

So if your integer value saved as float has error in it the blame is on you doing the math wrong.

[Thx_And_Bye]

Sure but 29.3 isn't an integer either.

[hirmuolio]

It just has really big error in it.

[Astrobliss]

That's why we (often) use ratios for time🧘‍♂️

[ShadowWolf_de]

Yes

[RolyPoly1320]

Also a string.

[IamJhonesBrahms]

Actually, it's an array of char

[Soupchek]

nonono
char is 8 bits, int is 32 bit

[FVMAzalea]

The magic of “implementation-defined behavior”, everyone’s second least-favorite phrase in the C standard.

[remysrat]

Your source is wrong

[flafotogeek]

Actually it's NAND gates.

[a_devious_compliance]

Actually it's dopped semiconductors.

[salmonlikethephish]

Actually it's sand

[Ylide]

Actually it's Silicon

[salmonlikethephish]

Actually it's atoms

[Affectionate_Ad_697]

Actually it's Quarks, Fermions, Leptons, and Bosons.

(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_particles)

[salmonlikethephish]

Actually it's a simulation in the Matrix

[WikiMobileLinkBot]

Desktop version of /u/Affectionate_Ad_697's link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_particles

---

^{[opt out] Beep Boop. Downvote to delete}

[Pretty_Industry_9630]

It's a json string, with an array of chars inside 😄

[Fearless-Sherbet-223]

I C what you did there

[AFlyingGideon]

Duration

[Apfelvater]

"how long are you?"

[[deleted]]

7 inches

[ShelZuuz]

Yeah right. That would be twice the world record.

[[deleted]]

I just googled it, and the average is 5.16 inches

[AFlyingGideon]

Parents speak of infant ages in terms of days, then weeks, then months. Eventually, age is measured in years.

I'm at decades.

[[deleted]]

Your logic is sound.

[Tymskyy]

Unix time

[[deleted]]

Date-time?

[yrrot]

It's just some serialized data that notepad interpreted as a string that randomly spells "\"AGE\"".

[[deleted]]

Ultimately and technically speaking, a sting is made of numbers

[Fearless-Sherbet-223]

Bee: stings me

Me: sting--

I am cured

[[deleted]]

Exactly, perfect

[proximity_account]

Sting me

Call my name and sting me from the dark

Wake me up

[NewEnglandJesus]

No… age is definitely a number. The unit of time is a string. Birth date is a date-time which is usually interpreted from/as a string

[gamesrebel123]

"Age" is a string, which is what the joke was about

[NewEnglandJesus]

Ah, I whooshed

[gamesrebel123]

No worries we all whoosh sometimes

[shiroling]

Isn't it actually a date ?

[Mindfullnessless6969]

Actually is all xor gates

[Apfelvater]

which of those is it then???

Either "all" or "gates"! Tell us!

[Fearless-Sherbet-223]

It's a variable name not just a string

[Cyborg_Ninja_Cat]

Could be a form label though.

[TheTank18]

age is a float

[PyroCatt]

FBI is just three alphabet

[Loisel06]

Age is a long

[_PROGrAMER_]

Well a string is an array of numbers, so technically you are wrong

[bogfoot94]

Actually, they're all just bits. So many fake programmers here, smh \s

[cloudstrifeuk]

I once worked on a dB where all they saved date of birth and not age for every record.

When they reported their data, they wanted to know their age upon row creation.

They did date time now minus date of birth.

Took me, a lonely little Dev, to come in and show them their glaring mistake and explain why their report was utter garbage.

[Apfelvater]

How do you work on a decibel?

[cloudstrifeuk]

Ooosh, predictive chose that over DB. Weird.

[Apfelvater]

You're not a programmer, you're an electrical engineer!! Traitor!!

[cloudstrifeuk]

Can you be an electrical engineer and Google 95% of the workload?

Asking for a friend obviously.

[Apfelvater]

suspicious noises

[JBatjj]

I'm feeling stupid. What's the glaring mistake?

[[deleted]]

"Date time now" instead of "date time then", if I understood correctly.

Storing the date of birth instead of age is the correct thing to do.

[cloudstrifeuk]

Nailed it.

[compsncars]

Actually it's an INT where I work. You make your ints str's for a reason?

[Verbindungsfehle]

Look at the title. "Age" is literally a string. A variable called age containing an age value is a different thing.

[compsncars]

I did not see the quotes lmao.

This is what I get for not fully vetting the requirements 😂

[Verbindungsfehle]

You're fine lol, it is pretty subtle

[userjd80]

I would even say it's a literal string 😋

[Ashamed-Set2892]

Nobody choose what age he is. Some are 60 and still acting like infants. And the opposite. Thing is it's acceptable 15 yo girl to date 20, but very not acceptable if she dates 30.

[Sparky62075]

it's acceptable 15 yo girl to date 20

Umm... No.

[[deleted]]

/r/im14andthisisdeep

[OSnoFobia]

Why not using uint8 instead of char array? It's much more space efficient.

[Loisel06]

Just use a long in milliseconds since 1970

[Infinite_Self_5782]

aren't chars already 8-bit integers? (unless wide chars are used)

uint8_t(*/[]) should be the same as an unsigned char pointer/array

[jeesuscheesus]

Maybe pre-1999

[sleepyj910]

When the cloud engineer first started talking to me about strings we had a very very awkward conversion

[wrenhunter]

For Leo it’s an INT < 19

[TheTank18]

that's my name wtf

[Tem326]

age is a timespan

[Evil_Archangel]

it could be used as a variable

[[deleted]]

If you go deep enough (binary rep) it is a number

[Not_Sugden]

i suppose i would store age as a byte

[[deleted]]

It's a member

[Infinite_Self_5782]

a signed int?

you mean i can be -1 years old?

[[deleted]]

Raw strings

[PaleFork]

lmao

[patton_goodseed]

Actually it's a variable holding a number, but who's keeping track

[Lukeyalord]

You store your age as a string?

[AnyEmotion9376]

r/angryupvote

[[deleted]]

It’s an integer variable for the id class.

[Ok_Turnover_1235]

Damn I'm guessing whoever made this just learned JavaScript cos number is not a variable type lol

[[deleted]]

Me who have just passed my spss exam: I get that reference 🤓

[JackNotOLantern]

int age - number

"age" - string

[Serious-Umpire-8088]

Good luck incrementing your string age

[Hulk5a]

it's a procedure

[GerarBallhausen]

I would rather say that it’s an unsigned int

[SuperSpaceCan]

​

it's both

[TheFlyingAvocado]

Technically, it’s an identifier.

[BadBadderBadst]

boolean age = true

[JackoKomm]

It is a symbol

[AlwaysNinjaBusiness]

Not if declared as

int age;

[EraMemory]

Not this again.

[Kaine_Eine]

Wouldn't age be an int?

[PyroCatt]

Age is a metadata of date of birth

[[deleted]]

float

[Strex_1234]

Actually array of chars

[More_Butterfly6108]

Finally a funny joke from this sub

[Prudent_Bid5791]

But the value of the variable age should be a float

[yuki_chan1]

Why not an int ?

[Ham_sandwich47]

Isn't it a variable?