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[Reelya]

S'ok. Setting up gags excuses anything. Meanwhile, I came across this:

 http://qntm.org/gay

Who knew that gay database design made a lot more sense than feminist programming languages?

[Aqizzar]

Meanwhile, I came across this:

 http://qntm.org/gay

Who knew that gay database design made a lot more sense than feminist programming languages?

As a database designer myself, this is an article after my own heart.  Also, anyone working with a SQL-style database who doesn't understand the power of cross-reference meta-tables deserves to be taken out in the street and shot...

Speaking of which, I'm pretty sure the database template my company uses for personal information stores gender as a boolean.  I don't remember which value counts as "true".

[wierd]

Define Gender as Boolean

Intersexed persons are not allowed! Their existence is against the EULA for this site, because their gender causes problems with our servers!

[Willfor]

Intersexed relates to sex, not gender. Sex being hardware, and gender being software in the most reductionist sort of metaphor. But yes, it is problematic.

[wierd]

Some intersexed persons consider their physiological status as being either bi-gendered, or "third gendered".

For instance, Germany has now officially accepted "I" in addtion to "M" and "F".

You can't have a 3rd option, and still use a boolean.

I was making fun of the policies that companies often have concerning activities that degrade server performance, and saying that people with the third gender are not allowed, and will be prosecuted.

[Aqizzar]

You can't have a 3rd option, and still use a boolean.

True, false, and null.  Which would be... kinda appropriate, provided your table design allows it.

Still not sure which value equals which.  I guess if "false = 0 / true = 1" then "female = false / male = 1", for the same reason sockets and plugs are named how they are.

[i2amroy]

I used this example, because it is literally exactly what the guy said to my face. If I'd been making one up, I would have gone one better.

No, i looked at it. Tell me which numeral base you can use to make 2+2=4.3. I tried, it cannot be done. Not even by allowing fractional bases.

It's only possible if you change what "2" means, what "4" means and what the point sign "." mean. But that's clearly not what the guy was saying.

You can actually do it with a simple zero-point redefinition (similar to that used in programming for zero-based numbering systems). If we redefine the zero point of our numerical system to a value of -.3 (meaning the new value of "0" is equivalent to the normal system's value of .3) then the math works out wonderfully, with 2 + 2 = 4 in the new system being the equivalent of 2.3 + 2.3 = 4.6 in the "normal" one. Such a system would probably be called a ".7-based numbering system", since .7 would be the first "integer" of said system, and would indeed be mathematically valid.

That said there's no practical reason to use such a system, regardless of it's mathematical validity. One of the few reasons we use zero-based systems is due to some improvements in computing certain algorithms, but a .7-based system would have no such advantages and therefore would have no valid reasons for it's use over that of our normal 1-based numbering system or some computing process's zero-based numbering system.
And yeah, the idea that things like logic can be influenced by political and cultural ideas is really stupid. To reference a xkcd comic:

Logic. It works, bitches.

[LeoLeonardoIII]

The gender Boolean database thing works though. You say, "Please fill out this web form to do business with us" and the person can decide if they want socks from you or not. The form could just as easily read "Select vagina, penis, or nothing".

A nice troll would be to sign up to a feminist forum you have to give your gender but the dropdown only has "Male" and "Other".

[wierd]

Except in the real world, leaving a null in the gender boolean field will have the form checker tell you that you must choose a gender. (So the advertising partners know to send you either viagra ads, or boobjob ads.)

The null condition is checked to make sure you supplied information. Not to see if you are intersexed. Again, intersexed people aren't allowed, because it messes with the system.

[alexandertnt]

That depends on the form. Nothing stopping you from using null as a third option internally.

[da_nang]

Does anyone object to using enums instead of boolean?

[Max White]

You can't have a 3rd option, and still use a boolean.

True, false, and null.  Which would be... kinda appropriate, provided your table design allows it.

Actually that is very language specific. Nullable booleans are a feature of more higher level languages typical these days, but there was a point in the past where they didn't real. Your boolean is actually a pointer to a boolean, and that boolean may only be true of false, but the pointer may be null.

[alexandertnt]

No boolean in any language is actually a single bit as far as I know (unless you get technical and funky with boolean arrays). So in some languages it is possible to allocate values other than true and false to a bool.

But sane people use enums.

[wierd]

Regardless, using the undefined "else" trap handler as an implicit value rather than as a trap handler, means you lose the functionality of the trap handler, and that is poor practice.

You really should consider switching to unsigned short integer instead, even though it uses many more bits than just 1. There are many other kinds of legally recognized third gender, after all. India has at least 2 others that I know of. That would bring the number of possible values up to 5, which is greater than what you can store in 2 bits. (well, 2 bits, plus undefined state.)


Seriously, outside of the arbitrary box of western culture, gender is far from boolean in nature.  As things like the LBGT community gain in support, silly notions like "Gender = (1 XOR 0)" are going to disapear, and if you care about maintainable code, you should avoid using boolean there.

[Max White]

Well there was a point in time when you had to care about disc space, and storing gender as a single bit was ideal for practical purposes. Luckily we are past that, and these days proper design would dictate that you have a 'Gender' class. Even if you only ever have need for two instances, conceptually it is the best option.