1. Keep this out of 7.8.
2. I'd much rather see Sql.NULL, with as little fuss as possible e.g.
Sql.pmod/module.pmod:
object NULL = Pike.Null();
Pike.pmod/module.pmod:
class Null { constant is_null = 1;
int _encode() { return 0; } void _decode(int zero) { } }