Re: [SQL] behavior of ' = NULL' vs. MySQL vs. Standards

> > Yes, column = NULL should *never* return true according to the spec (it
> > should always return NULL in fact as stated).  The reason for breaking
> > with the spec is AFAIK to work with broken microsoft clients that seem to
> > think that =NULL is a meaningful test and generate queries using that.
> Microsoft Access is the guilty party, IIRC.  I recently tried to stir up
> some interest in changing this behavior back to the standard, but
> apparently there are still too many people using broken versions of
> Access.

Since according to the standard "column = NULL" is a near-useless
construct (equivalent to "FALSE") it does not seem to pollute the
grammar much to allow an M$ compatible interpretation. I was not happy
having it added (much better to ask that responsive, customer-focused
company to fix their language compliance) but now that it is there it
seems to be an isolated and manageable feature.
                     - Thomas