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Ben Nadel at cf.Objective() 2013 (Bloomington, MN) with: Ben Koshy and Ben Arledge
Ben Nadel at cf.Objective() 2013 (Bloomington, MN) with: Ben Koshy ( @animexcom ) Ben Arledge ( @BenArledge )

Reinventing The Wheel As A Reflection Of Skill Level (RE: Mark Mandel)

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In response to something I heard last night at the NY CFUG meeting about Blue Dragon, I set off to figure out how I one could test to see if a SQL value was NULL or if it was actually an empty string. As it turns out, Mark Mandel had solved this problem months ago in the same fashion (with arguably more elegance). At first I was bummed that I had "reinvented the wheele". Then I was double-bummed to find out that not only had Mark already figured this out but that I had in fact commented on his post back in September (clearly demonstrating to myself that I was not fully aware of what he was talking about).

But then, I realized, if Mark Mandel did it... and then I did it... I MUST be on the right track! So from now on, instead of looking down on reinventing the wheel, I am going to look at it as a litmus test that I am getting smarter :)

Reader Comments

92 Comments

Ben don't lie to us. You are a terrible liar. You loveeee reinventing the wheel! Why do you think we get... what was it? About 5-7 blog posts today alone? Come on Ben admit it, you enjoy reinventing. :) By the way I'm in no way criticizing the fact that you are an active blogger, if anything you need to keep at it.

I believe in love. I believe in compassion. I believe in human rights. I believe that we can afford to give more of these gifts to the world around us because it costs us nothing to be decent and kind and understanding. And, I want you to know that when you land on this site, you are accepted for who you are, no matter how you identify, what truths you live, or whatever kind of goofy shit makes you feel alive! Rock on with your bad self!
Ben Nadel