On Sat, 31 Dec 2005 14:20:48 -0600, David W. Fenton wrote:
"Larry Linson" <bo*****@localh ost.not> wrote in
news:rJptf.1944 $aB1.729@trnddc 02:
"David W. Fenton" <XX*******@dfen ton.com.invalid > wrote
;"Male";"Female "
assuming Male is the checked value.
Why not checked = Female?
If I understood correctly, he was explaining why he used the
particular format. If so, the answer to your question would be:
Because that Format doesn't work if "checked = Female"; it would
be ;"Female";"Male ".
???
The issue was about using a Boolean to represent the two values,
male or female. The suggestion was that TRUE would indicate
maleness. My question is only over why male was chosen as TRUE and
female as FALSE.
I don't want to sound politically correct or anything, but it's
exactly the kind of thing that I find annoying, because of the
assumption that the male case should be the TRUE one.
In any event, I believe that it's *not* a Boolean value, so it
oughtn't be stored in a Boolean field.
I would never represent something that is neutral by using a
Boolean.
What's neutral in this case?
Sex. Male is neither better nor worse than female. Maleness is not a
negation of femaleness.
Second, in cases where the value is unknown, there is no way to
store that using a Boolean field.
Unknown, I can understand; neutral, I can't, without explanation.
There's an unintended implied value judgement in making one of them
TRUE and one FALSE, seems to me, and it would be better to avoid
such assumptions.
David,
I think you are making a mountain over a mole hill.
In my reply to the OP I specifically wrote:
and have it's Format property set to: ;"Male";"Female "
**assuming Male is the checked value.**
There is no implied judgment of True being better than False.
I could just as well have assumed Female was the checked value and
re-written the Format, or made no assumption at all and let the OP
figure it out for himself, which he may or may not have done.
If a value judgment were to be made regarding True and False, one
could say that True (value of -1) is less valued than False (value of
0). Does that make you feel any better? Or worse? It shouldn't.
His post referred to Male or Female. It did not refer to Male, Female,
Undecided, or Both. If he had, I would not have suggested the check
box as it would not have applied.
Let's keep this thread on the subject of what would work for the
poster, not what may or may not be politically correct from your view
point (or from mine).
And yes, I could just as easily have expanded my reply to include an
option group and a combo box as other possible controls to use.
Best wishes for the New Year.
--
Fred
Please respond only to this newsgroup.
I do not reply to personal e-mail
