@ChrisTravers Every time you buy an outsourced service there is a middle manager somewhere in the chain trying to minimise the amount of work they do and maximise their margins.
@ypercube And given an explicit conversion from '', what would you expect? NULL? An error? Zero seems quite natural to me, but then I might just be too used to SQL Server :)
I would much prefer explicit conversions always, but I can see how that would irritate people, and might not always be practical given the desperately hard rules for types derived from say arithmetic on decimals.
For example, who can predict the typed result of DEC(6,3) / DEC(8,2)?
Someone did explain why numerics have a higher precedence than string types once, and I remember finding the explanation convincing, but I'll be buggered if I can remember the logic of it.
@JackDouglas I got an email invite from somebody called Bethany Marzewski. She said they only have space for 75 people or so so 'please don't tweet.' However, I doubt that anybody would get their nose out of joint if you turned up. If you do want to come you should probably RSVP on the form though.
@jcolebrand Do you know if the London shindig is invite-only or can anybody RSVP and turn up?
