Omgaan met nulls

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Tyler Pernes

Learning & Development Consultant

Wat betekent null echt?

+--------+-----------------+
| order  | price_per_unit  |
|--------|-----------------|
| 1      | 4.50            |
| 2      | 2.25            |
| 3      | null            |
+--------+-----------------+

Nog te verwerken?
Gratis?
Vaste prijs?

Problemen met nulls

soccer_games
+---------+-------+-------+
| game_id | home  | away  |
|---------|-------|-------|
| 123     | 3     | 2     |
| 124     | 2     | null  |
| 125     | null  | 1     |
+---------+-------+-------+

SELECT *, home + away AS total_goals
FROM soccer_games;

Problemen met nulls

+---------+-------+-------+--------------+
| game_id | home  | away  | total_goals  |
|---------|-------|-------|--------------|
| 123     | 3     | 2     | 5            |
| 124     | 2     | null  | null         |
| 125     | null  | 1     | null         |
+---------+-------+-------+--------------+

Problemen met nulls

SELECT 
    region, 
    COUNT(DISTINCT athlete_id) AS athletes
FROM summer_games AS s
JOIN countries AS c
ON s.country_id = c.id
GROUP BY region;

+----------+-----------+
| region   | athletes  |
|----------|-----------|
| BALTICS  | 42        |
| OCEANIA  | 62        |
| null     | 10        |
+----------+-----------+

Onduidelijk wat null betekent!

Fix 1: nulls filteren

original_table
+--------+-----------------+
| order  | price_per_unit  |
|--------|-----------------|
| 1      | 4.50            |
| 2      | 2.25            |
| 3      | null            |
+--------+-----------------+

SELECT *
FROM original_table
WHERE price_per_unit IS NOT NULL;

Fix 1: nulls filteren

+--------+-----------------+
| order  | price_per_unit  |
|--------|-----------------|
| 1      | 4.50            |
| 2      | 2.25            |
+--------+-----------------+

Fix 2: COALESCE()

Syntax:COALESCE(field, null_replacement)

SELECT 
    COALESCE(region,'Independent Athletes') AS region,
    COUNT(DISTINCT athlete_id) AS athletes
FROM summer_games AS s
JOIN countries AS c
ON s.country_id = c.id;

+-----------------------+-----------+
| region                | athletes  |
|-----------------------|-----------|
| BALTICS               | 42        |
| OCEANIA               | 62        |
| Independent Athletes  | 10        |
+-----------------------+-----------+

Fix 2: COALESCE()

soccer_games
+---------+-------+-------+
| game_id | home  | away  |
|---------|-------|-------|
| 123     | 3     | 2     |
| 124     | 2     | null  |
| 125     | null  | 1     |
+---------+-------+-------+

SELECT *, COALESCE(home,0) + COALESCE(away,0) AS total_goals
FROM soccer_games;

Fix 2: COALESCE()

+---------+-------+-------+--------------+
| game_id | home  | away  | total_goals  |
|---------|-------|-------|--------------|
| 123     | 3     | 2     | 5            |
| 124     | 2     | null  | 2            |
| 125     | null  | 1     | 1            |
+---------+-------+-------+--------------+

Nulls door een query

Oorzaken:

LEFT JOIN matcht niet alle rijen
Geen enkele CASE-voorwaarde wordt voldaan
Nog meer!

Impact van nulls meten

Aandeel rijen dat null is

SELECT SUM(CASE when country IS NULL then 1 else 0 end) / SUM(1.00)
FROM orders;

+-------+
| .12   |
+-------+

Aandeel omzet dat null is

SELECT SUM(CASE when country IS NULL then revenue else 0 end) / SUM(revenue)
FROM orders;

+-------+
| .25   |
+-------+

Laten we oefenen!

Rapporteren in SQL