Anon Opin
Telephone numbers are not numbers. If a leading 0 is an important part of an identifier then it's different to its numerical value and so not a number.
Feb 27 at 9:55pmanon_opin
Show threadGary Feb 27
@anon_opin not all telephone “numbers” start with a zero, though 🤷‍♂️
Show threadDavid Cantrell 🏏Feb 27
@WiteWulf @anon_opin but some do. For example, in Italy all geographic numbers start with a zero. Therefore they are not numbers. You also can't do meaningful arithmetic on them. Anyone attempting to store phone "numbers" in a numeric field is an idiot and should have their computer licence revoked.
Show threadSabrina 🇺🇦🇹🇼🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️Feb 27
@anon_opin @WiteWulf @DrHyde The problem is that often spreadsheets (eg: Excel) *assumes* it’s a number and treats it as such. 😖 It’s not always the user’s fault.
Show threadGary Feb 27
@lds @anon_opin @DrHyde timeless IT advice: excel is not a database 😉
Show threadSabrina 🇺🇦🇹🇼🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️Feb 27
@WiteWulf @DrHyde @anon_opin As a long time SQL Server enthusiast, I know that well- but not everyone does, so sometimes you don’t get a choice. 😞 #WorkplaceFrustrations
Show threadSimon HewisonFeb 27
@lds @anon_opin @WiteWulf @DrHyde indeed. Using Excel for storing stuff when you don't mean to do arithmetic is user error.
Show threadDavid Cantrell 🏏Feb 27
@lds @anon_opin @WiteWulf given that you can't do meaningful arithmetic on phone "numbers", putting them into Excel is an error. But if you do put it in there it takes but a moment of How To Use Excel training to learn about data types. I suppose it might not be the user's fault - if they've had no training for example - but then it's the fault of the negligent twit who chose Excel for the task and there's still a computer licence that should be revoked and a job that should be lost.
Show threadSupermoosieFeb 28

@DrHyde @lds @anon_opin @WiteWulf

Yet you can put phone numbers and part numbers starting with zeros into excel.

And yes excel can be used as a database.

Show threadGary Feb 28
@SuperMoosie @DrHyde @lds @anon_opin
Show threadlj·rkFeb 27
@anon_opin Also there are no binary numbers, a number is a numeric value, no matter how I represent/encode it. There is the binary representation of a number, or the decimal one, etc.
Show threadkolyaFeb 27
@anon_opin try asking a girl for her "telephone identifier". I'll wait here.
Show threadgoffikFeb 27
@anon_opin Oh, fuck off.
Show threadJames TinmouthFeb 27
@anon_opin .oO(does that mean zero is not a number? 🤯)
Show threadMark WhybirdMar 2

@tinmouth @anon_opin There was serious debate about exactly this when the concept of zero was invented. In some very genuine ways, for certain views of what a number is, zero might NOT be a number.

See also ∞, which is unambiguously not a number.

(BUT also, even if 0 is a number, the phone number 000 - which happens to be Australia’s emergency number like 911 - is not the same thing as zero.)

Show thread✨pencilears✨Feb 27
@anon_opin yeah, it's an address.
Show threadTalya (she/her) 🏳️‍⚧️✡️Feb 28
@anon_opin fun fact: in certain phone systems the leading zero is not actually important and in fact can be dropped when disambiguated with a country code.
Show threadDressToKILTFeb 28
@anon_opin strawberries aren't berries. Existence is a lie.
Show threadI love this, so IFeb 28
@anon_opin but I need to know the average phone number in my database
Show threadMark WhybirdMar 2
@jpm @anon_opin Obviously you can easily look up phone logs with the log() function…
Show threadPolly KraisusMar 4
@anon_opin "hey can I have your phone string?"