Column is NOT NULL, no DEFAULT specified - server invents his own default values ?!

[Armen Zourabian]

Hi all!

I am used to the fact that if a column is declared NOT NULL and no DEFAULT directive is given with any value whatsover, still MySQL server does not complain about INSERT INTO table1 () VALUES (); when table is created like the following:

CREATE TABLE table1
(
login CHAR(10) ASCII NOT NULL
)TYPE=InnoDB;

Shouldn't the server complain that a value for 'login' field is missing upon executing INSERT query ? In my case the row is inserted and I have no idea what is actually in the login field.

I also wonder how exactly does MySQL manage NULL declared fields ? When I have such, without DEFAULT value, shouldn't they be NULL by DEFAULT ? DO I have to specify NULL explicitly (DEFAULT NULL) ?

Thanks!