General Discussions

**dyer** · 02-25-2008, 06:19 PM

What do you think about zero(0). does it have value or not?

**fastreplies** · 02-25-2008, 06:22 PM

What do you think about 0(ZERO)

Nothing

fastreplies

**ADAM Web Design** · 02-25-2008, 06:27 PM

I don't like zero. Every time I try to divide by it, it doesn't work.

**blue-dreamer** · 02-25-2008, 06:28 PM

Yes it does have a value, there has to be a mid point of +1 and -1

**NullPointer** · 02-25-2008, 06:41 PM

Of course zero is a value. Null I suppose would be the closest thing to having no value, but even then you can define something to be null. I would be more likely to question whether or not infinity has a value than zero.

**dyer** · 02-25-2008, 06:45 PM

For me without zero there is no infinity (1/0=infinity. without zero it will as it is)

SO both are inversely proportional ( in mathematical point )

Dyer

**Moxxnixx** · 02-25-2008, 07:04 PM

Zero?
Yeah, Zero is a wonderful thing.
In fact, Zero is my hero!

My Hero, Zero - Schoolhouse Rock

This was the first thing I thought of when seeing this post.
I loved these videos when I was a kid.

**Learning Newbie** · 02-25-2008, 07:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ADAM Web Design

I don't like zero. Every time I try to divide by it, it doesn't work.

Sure it does. It throws an exception like it's supposed to. What would be really wild is if X / 0 = Rand().

**NullPointer** · 02-25-2008, 08:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dyer

For me without zero there is no infinity (1/0=infinity. without zero it will as it is)

SO both are inversely proportional ( in mathematical point )

Dyer

Infinity has a larger purpose than to be the result of a division by zero, so I suppose you could have one without the other. Infinity is not defined as 1/0 it is just the case that zero divides one an infinite number of times. You can define zero in terms of infinity as well (1/infinity) but that doesn't mean that zero exists only in terms of infinity.

**dyer** · 02-25-2008, 08:20 PM

Sure, I agree.

Zero has no value, But No value with out zero

What about this ?

**joder** · 02-25-2008, 11:34 PM

In the database world, NULL does not mean 0. NULL means the lack of any value.

You can cat >> /dev/null and it disappears

**NullPointer** · 02-26-2008, 01:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by joder

In the database world, NULL does not mean 0. NULL means the lack of any value.

You can cat >> /dev/null and it disappears

That's one way of thinking about Null, another is that it is just uninitialized. When you create a variable in langauge like java and c++, and I'm assuming what most databases are based on, you set aside the memory for whatever it is that is that your variable is going to reference. In more cases that memory has something in it left over from whatever program was using that memory before.

My point being, in some less type safe languages you can take an uninitialized variable (a variable that is set to null) and access some value of that variable. Obviously doing so is completely useless so long as your intent is good.

My professors have told me stories about people indexing outside of the bounds of their arrays and doing strange things: Like a program that restarts the computer everytime it runs, or a program that starts printing out its own source code.

Anyways to summerize... it may be the case that the conceptual definition of null is the complete lack of value, but in practice that is not the case.

**ForrestCroce** · 02-26-2008, 01:14 AM

In C++ you can declare a variable and it has a random value in it. In C#, you have to assign a value before you can read a variable, or the compiler will throw an error. But that's not really a null value so much as a useless one.

**dyer** · 02-26-2008, 01:33 AM

Meanwhile it is depending upon where we use Zero. If it is 01 it has no value, If it is 10 it has more value