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• T-SQL User-Defined Functions: the good, the bad, and the ugly (part 3)

  - by Hugo Kornelis

  I showed why T-SQL scalar user-defined functions are bad for performance in two previous posts. In this post, I will show that CLR scalar user-defined functions are bad as well (though not always quite as bad as T-SQL scalar user-defined functions). I will admit that I had not really planned to cover CLR in this series. But shortly after publishing the first part , I received an email from Adam Machanic , which basically said that I should make clear that the information in that post does not apply...(read more)

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• SQL Server 2008 R2 Cumulative Update 8 now available

  - by Greg Low

  CU8 is now available for SQL Server 2008 R2. You will find it here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2534352/en-us It includes the following fixes: VSTS bug number KB article number Description 726734 2522893 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2522893/ ) FIX: A backup operation on a SQL Server 2008 or SQL Server 2008 R2 database fails if you enable change tracking on this database 730658 2525665 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2525665/ ) FIX: SQL Server 2008 BIDS stops responding when you stop debugging...(read more)

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• Book Review (Book 12) - 20 Master Plots

  - by BuckWoody

  This is a continuation of the books I challenged myself to read to help my career - one a month, for a year. You can read my first book review here, and the entire list is here. The book I chose for May 2012 was:20 Master Plots by Ronald B. Tobias. This is my final book review - at least for this year. I'll explain what I've learned in this book in particular, and in the last twelve months in general. Why I chose this book: Stories and themes are part of software, presenting, and working in teams. This book claims there are only 20 plots, ever. I wanted to find out. What I learned: Probably my most favorite read of the year. Deceptively small, amazingly insightful. The premise is that there are only a few "base" themes, and that once you learn them you can put together an interesting set of stories on most any topic. Yes, the author admits that this number has been different throughout history - some have said 50, others 14, and still others claim only one or two basic plots. This doesn't change the fact that you can build very complex stories from a simple set of circumstances and characters. Be warned - if you read this book it takes away much of the wonder from almost every movie or book you'll read from here on! I loved it. My favorite part is that the author gives you exercises to build stories, right from the start. I've actually used these as the start of a meeting to foster creativity. Amazing stuff. One of my favorite sections of the book deals with plot and story. Plot: The king died, and the queen died. Story: The king died, and the queen died of heartbreak. Add one or two words, and you have the essence of storytelling. A highly recommended read, for all folks of all ages. You'll like it, your spouse will like it, and your kids will like it. I learned to be a better storyteller, and it helped me understand that plots and stories are not just things in books - they are a direct reflection of human nature. That makes me a better manager of myself and others.   And this is the last of the reviews - at least for this year. I probably won't post many more book reviews here, but I will keep up the practice. As a reminder, the goal was to select 12 books that will help you reach your career goals. They don't have to be technical, or even apply directly to your job - but they do need to be books that you mindfully select as getting you closer to what you want to be. Each month, jot down what you learned from the work. And see if it doesn't in fact get you closer to your goals. These readings helped me - I got a promotion this year, and I attribute at least some of that to the things I learned.

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• Database Maintenance Scripting Done Right

  - by KKline

  I first wrote about useful database maintenance scripts on my SQLBlog account way back in 2008. Hmmm - now that I think about it, I first wrote about my own useful database maintenance scripts in a journal called SQL Server Professional back in the mid-1990's on SQL Server v6.5 or some such. But I digress... Anyway, I pointed out a couple useful sites where you could get some good scripts that would take care of preventative maintenance on your SQL Server, such as index defragmentation, updating...(read more)

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• Yet another use of OUTER APPLY in defensive programming

  - by Alexander Kuznetsov

  When a SELECT is used to populate variables from a subquery, it fails to change them if the subquery returns nothing - and that can lead to subtle bugs. We shall use OUTER APPLY to eliminate this problem. Prerequisites All we need is the following mock function that imitates a subquery: CREATE FUNCTION dbo.BoxById ( @BoxId INT ) RETURNS TABLE AS RETURN ( SELECT CAST ( 1 AS INT ) AS [Length] , CAST ( 2 AS INT ) AS [Width] , CAST ( 3 AS INT ) AS [Height] WHERE @BoxId = 1 ) ; Let us assume that this...(read more)

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• Observable Adapter

  - by Roman Schindlauer

  .NET 4.0 introduced a pair of interfaces, IObservable<T> and IObserver<T>, supporting subscriptions to and notifications for push-based sequences. In combination with Reactive Extensions (Rx), these interfaces provide a convenient and uniform way of describing event sources and sinks in .NET. The StreamInsight CTP refresh in November 2009 included an Observable adapter supporting “reactive” event inputs and outputs.   While we continue to believe it enables an important programming model, the Observable adapter was not included in the final (RTM) release of Microsoft StreamInsight 1.0. The release takes a dependency on .NET 3.5 but for timing reasons could not take a dependency on .NET 4.0. Shipping a separate copy of the observable interfaces in StreamInsight – as we did in the CTP refresh – was not a viable option in the RTM release.   Within the next months, we will be shipping another preview of the Observable adapter that targets .NET 4.0. We look forward to gathering your feedback on the new adapter design! We plan to include the Observable adapter implementation into the product in a future release of Microsoft StreamInsight. Share this post: email it! | bookmark it! | digg it! | reddit! | kick it! | live it!

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• Enjoy Portland SQL Saturday without me

  - by merrillaldrich

  I was incredibly psyched to go to SQL Saturday #27 in Portland, but alas Sunday is my older son Will's birthday, and I can't manage both events in the same weekend. Chalk it up to work-life balance. Anyway, if you are going, have a great time! And maybe I'll see you in Redmond on June 12. Share this post: email it! | bookmark it! | digg it! | reddit! | kick it! | live it!...(read more)

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• I am not speaking at SQL Connections February 2011 meeting in Chicago suburbs

  - by Alexander Kuznetsov

  Usually it is an honor when we get to present to a user group, but not this time, so let me explain. I have no idea how my presentation got briefly mentioned in the invitation which went out today, without my consent. I have never asked or agreed to speak at SQL Connections February 2011 meeting in Chicago suburbs. Yet I apologize for any inconvenience it might have caused. I was going to speak at the meeting of December 2010, which was agreed by email with the person in charge. I had spent some...(read more)

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• New version of the upgrade slides available

  - by Mike Dietrich

  Sorry for not posting for some weeks now. Our blog admins discovered a bug in the MovableType blog software we are using which prevents direct updates or access to the comments. So if you have commented especially on the VM topic I have read your comments and I’ll approve them as soon as the admin part of MovableType will work again. Besides that Roy and me uploaded a new version of the slides last week: See http://apex.oracle.com/folien and use the keyword “upgrade112” (fill it in into the empty field tagged with Schluesselwort. Thanks for your patience! Mike

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• Why do I need two Instances in Windows Azure?

  - by BuckWoody

  Windows Azure as a Platform as a Service (PaaS) means that there are various components you can use in it to solve a problem: Compute “Roles” - Computers running an OS and optionally IIS - you can have more than one "Instance" of a given Role Storage - Blobs, Tables and Queues for Storage Other Services - Things like the Service Bus, Azure Connection Services, SQL Azure and Caching It’s important to understand that some of these services are Stateless and others maintain State. Stateless means (at least in this case) that a system might disappear from one physical location and appear elsewhere. You can think of this as a cashier at the front of a store. If you’re in line, a cashier might take his break, and another person might replace him. As long as the order proceeds, you as the customer aren’t really affected except for the few seconds it takes to change them out. The cashier function in this example is stateless. The Compute Role Instances in Windows Azure are Stateless. To upgrade hardware, because of a fault or many other reasons, a Compute Role's Instance might stop on one physical server, and another will pick it up. This is done through the controlling fabric that Windows Azure uses to manage the systems. It’s important to note that storage in Azure does maintain State. Your data will not simply disappear - it is maintained - in fact, it’s maintained three times in a single datacenter and all those copies are replicated to another for safety. Going back to our example, storage is similar to the cash register itself. Even though a cashier leaves, the record of your payment is maintained. So if a Compute Role Instance can disappear and re-appear, the things running on that first Instance would stop working. If you wrote your code in a Stateless way, then another Role Instance simply re-starts that transaction and keeps working, just like the other cashier in the example. But if you only have one Instance of a Role, then when the Role Instance is re-started, or when you need to upgrade your own code, you can face downtime, since there’s only one. That means you should deploy at least two of each Role Instance not only for scale to handle load, but so that the first “cashier” has someone to replace them when they disappear. It’s not just a good idea - to gain the Service Level Agreement (SLA) for our uptime in Azure it’s a requirement. We point this out right in the Management Portal when you deploy the application: (Click to enlarge) When you deploy a Role Instance you can also set the “Upgrade Domain”. Placing Roles on separate Upgrade Domains means that you have a continuous service whenever you upgrade (more on upgrades in another post) - the process looks like this for two Roles. This example covers the scenario for upgrade, so you have four roles total - One Web and one Worker running the "older" code, and one of each running the new code. In all those Roles you want at least two instances, and this example shows that you're covered for High Availability and upgrade paths: The take-away is this - always plan for forward-facing Roles to have at least two copies. For Worker Roles that do background processing, there are ways to architect around this number, but it does affect the SLA if you have only one.

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• More free geek-read.December SolidQ Journal is online

  - by Greg Low

  I'm really excited to see the last SolidQ Journal for this year out the door. It's our free online magazine. I've been wondering about the future of printed technical magazines for a long time. I doubt they have much of a future, as online publications become more prevalent and more timely. By the time a print magazine gets to you, it's such a long time since the author wrote the material that it's hard to even retain relevance in a fast moving world. That's why I'm so happy to have the format we...(read more)

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• T-SQL Tuesday #007 and T-SQL Tuesday Has a Logo

  - by Adam Machanic

  This month’s T-SQL Tuesday is hosted by Jorge Segarra, the “SQL Chicken.” The topic is rather open ended: What is your favorite new(ish) SQL Server feature? Love the DACPAC? Can’t wait for PDW? Post about it and tell us why! In other T-SQL Tuesday news, we now have a logo. Those of you who are participating in the event, take notice; the rules have changed. Now that we have a logo we’re simplifying the linkback and subject guidelines a bit. Henceforth you can title your post however you want. It...(read more)

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• Difference between DISTINCT and VALUES in DAX

  - by Marco Russo (SQLBI)

  I recently got a question about differences between DISTINCT and VALUES in DAX and thanks to Jeffrey Wang I created a simple example to describe the difference. Consider the two tables below: Fact and Dim tables, having a single column with the same name of the table. A relationship exists between Fact[Fact] and Dim[Dim]. This relationship generates a referential integrity violations in table Fact for rows containing C, which doesn’t exist in table Dim. In this case, an empty row is virtually inserted...(read more)

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• Azure Search Preview

  - by Greg Low

  One of the things I’ve been keeping an eye on for quite a while now is the development of the Azure Search system. While it’s not a full replacement for the full-text indexing service in SQL Server on-premises as yet, it’s a really, really good start. Liam Cavanagh, Pablo Castro and the team have done a great job bringing this to the preview stage and I suspect it could be quite popular. I was very impressed by how they incorporated quite a bit of feedback I gave them early on, and I’m sure that others involved would have felt the same. There are two tiers at present. One is a free tier and has shared resources; the other is currently $125/month and has reserved resources. I would like to see another tier between these two, much the same way that Azure websites work. If you have any feedback on this, now would be a good time to make it known. In the meantime, given there is a free tier, there’s no excuse to not get out and try it. You’ll find details of it here: http://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/documentation/services/search/ I’ll be posting more info about this service, and showing examples of it during the upcoming months.

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• TechEd North America 2012 – Day 1 #msTechEd

  - by Marco Russo (SQLBI)

  Yesterday I and Alberto delivered the PreCon day about BISM Tabular in Analysis Services 2012. We received very good feedback and now I am looking forward to meet people that read our blogs and our books! Ping me on Twitter at @marcorus if you want to contact me during the conference. This is my schedule for the next few days: ·         Monday, June 11, 2012 o   10:30am-12:30pm I will be in the Technical Learning Center area, at the Breaktrough Insights (station #8) in the Database & Business Intelligence area (dedicated to SQL Server 2012) o   I will try to watch some sessions in the afternoon o   6:30pm-7:00pm I will be at the O’Reilly booth meeting book readers and doing some book signing ·         Tuesday, June 12, 2012 o   12:30pm-3:30pm I will be in the Technical Learning Center area, at the Breaktrough Insights (station #8) in the Database & Business Intelligence area (dedicated to SQL Server 2012) o   5:00pm-6:15pm I will attend the Alberto’s session DBI413 Many-to-Many Relationships in BISM Tabular (room S330E) o   6:15pm-9:00pm Community Night & Ask the Experts, we’ll discuss about Analysis Services, Tabular and Multidimensional! ·         Wednesday, June 13, 2012 o   11:15am-11:30am Don’t miss this special demo session at the Private Cloud, Public Cloud and Data Platform Theater in the Technical Learning Center area (next to the SQL Server 2012 zone). I and Alberto will present Querying multi-billion rows with many to many relationships in SSAS Tabular (xVelocity) and you’re invited to guess the response time of DAX queries on a 4 billion rows table with many-to-many relationships before we run them! We’ll give away some 8GB USB key if you guess the right answer! o   12:30pm-1:00pm I and Alberto will have a book signing session at the TechEd Bookstore o   3:00pm-5:00pm I will be in the Technical Learning Center area, at the Breaktrough Insights (station #8) in the Database & Business Intelligence area (dedicated to SQL Server 2012) ·         Thursday, June 14, 2012 o   2:45pm-4:00pm I will deliver my DBI319 BISM: Multidimensional vs. Tabular breakthrough session in room S320A. I expect many questions here! And if you want to learn more about Analysis Services Tabular, we announced two more online sessions of our SSAS Tabular Workshop: ·         July 2-3, 2012 - SSAS Workshop Online - America's time zone ·         September 3-4, 2012 - SSAS Workshop Online - America's time zone Register now if you are interested, the early bird for the July session expires on June 19, 2012! I will also deliver a SSAS Workshop in Oslo (Norway) on August 27-28, 2012.  

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• Book Review (Book 12) - 20 Master Plots

  - by BuckWoody

  This is a continuation of the books I challenged myself to read to help my career - one a month, for a year. You can read my first book review here, and the entire list is here. The book I chose for May 2012 was:20 Master Plots by Ronald B. Tobias. This is my final book review - at least for this year. I'll explain what I've learned in this book in particular, and in the last twelve months in general. Why I chose this book: Stories and themes are part of software, presenting, and working in teams. This book claims there are only 20 plots, ever. I wanted to find out. What I learned: Probably my most favorite read of the year. Deceptively small, amazingly insightful. The premise is that there are only a few "base" themes, and that once you learn them you can put together an interesting set of stories on most any topic. Yes, the author admits that this number has been different throughout history - some have said 50, others 14, and still others claim only one or two basic plots. This doesn't change the fact that you can build very complex stories from a simple set of circumstances and characters. Be warned - if you read this book it takes away much of the wonder from almost every movie or book you'll read from here on! I loved it. My favorite part is that the author gives you exercises to build stories, right from the start. I've actually used these as the start of a meeting to foster creativity. Amazing stuff. One of my favorite sections of the book deals with plot and story. Plot: The king died, and the queen died. Story: The king died, and the queen died of heartbreak. Add one or two words, and you have the essence of storytelling. A highly recommended read, for all folks of all ages. You'll like it, your spouse will like it, and your kids will like it. I learned to be a better storyteller, and it helped me understand that plots and stories are not just things in books - they are a direct reflection of human nature. That makes me a better manager of myself and others.   And this is the last of the reviews - at least for this year. I probably won't post many more book reviews here, but I will keep up the practice. As a reminder, the goal was to select 12 books that will help you reach your career goals. They don't have to be technical, or even apply directly to your job - but they do need to be books that you mindfully select as getting you closer to what you want to be. Each month, jot down what you learned from the work. And see if it doesn't in fact get you closer to your goals. These readings helped me - I got a promotion this year, and I attribute at least some of that to the things I learned.

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• Did You Know: What do you know that isn't so?

  - by Kalen Delaney

  You know what they say… it's not what you don't know that will hurt you, it's what you know that isn't so! In other words, your misconceptions. Or, as Paul Nielson calls them in his SQL Server Bible … MYTHconceptions. Some misconceptions come from misunderstanding of complex information, or from misinterpreting your own results, and assuming we can generalize behavior from one particular situation. Since I teach advanced classes to students with lots of SQL Server experience, I actually see a lot...(read more)

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• finding a WUXGA or matte laptop

  - by John Paul Cook

  UPDATED: HP still sells 17" WUXGA laptops - details in the new paragraph at the end. Lenovo, Dell, Sony and Sager do not sell a 1920x1200 (WUXGA) laptop. I understand that manufacturers provide what there is market demand for. I also understand that HDTV and the 1080p standard is heavily influencing both monitor and laptop screen resolutions. But I do not understand why there is so little demand for a WUXGA laptop. Nor do I understand the popularity of glossy displays. I really don't like to look...(read more)

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• Slides and demo code for Columnstore Index session

  - by Hugo Kornelis

  Almost a week has passed after SQLBits X in London , so I guess it’s about time for me to share the slides and demo code of my session on columnstore indexes. After all, I promised people I would do that – especially when I found out that I had enough demos prepared to fill two sessions! I made some changes to the demo code. I added extra comments, not only to the demos I could not explain and run during the session, but also to the rest, so that people who missed the session will also be able to...(read more)

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• Data Movement and the Decision Matrix

  - by BuckWoody

  Maybe it’s my military background, or maybe I’ve always had this predilection, but I like to use two devices when I need to make a complex decision: A checklist and a decision matrix. I like to use a checklist because it ensures that I remember the big bits of what I need to do, and brings up questions or areas that I didn’t think about when evaluating options for the decision. And the decision matrix – that’s the thing I use to actually lay out those options. It’s simply a spreadsheet-like grid (I use Excel, but paper and pencil works as well) that lays out the requirements or advantages for the decision across the top, and the options I have on the left-hand side. Then in the “cells” I put whether or not that option on the left will meet the requirement in that column. I then simply “weight” each cell to organize the choices by best-fit. The right answer (or answers) will float right to the top. I was asked yesterday about options for moving data in SQL Server to another system. There are just dozens of ways to do this, from bcp to Replication, each with certain advantages and costs. But asking the questions for the top row first helped me show the person that it isn’t a particular technology that is important, it’s laying out those requirements and thinking about which elements are more important than the other. For instance, is it more important to have the data moved all the time, or is it OK if that happens once in a while? Does the data have to move in two directions or just one? All of these will help that answer jump right out. Try it sometime – it’s a great learning exercise, since it will force you to focus on filling out the matrix. The answer is out there, Neo. Share this post: email it! | bookmark it! | digg it! | reddit! | kick it! | live it!

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• Cloud Computing: Start with the problem

  - by BuckWoody

  At one point in my life I would build my own computing system for home use. I wanted a particular video card, a certain set of drives, and a lot of memory. Not only could I not find those things in a vendor’s pre-built computer, but those were more expensive – by a lot. As time moved on and the computing industry matured, I actually find that I can buy a vendor’s system as cheaply – and in some cases far more cheaply – than I can build it myself.   This paradigm holds true for almost any product, even clothing and furniture. And it’s also held true for software… Mostly. If you need an office productivity package, you simply buy one or use open-sourced software for that. There’s really no need to write your own Word Processor – it’s kind of been done a thousand times over. Even if you need a full system for customer relationship management or other needs, you simply buy one. But there is no “cloud solution in a box”.  Sure, if you’re after “Software as a Service” – type solutions, like being able to process video (Windows Azure Media Services) or running a Pig or Hive job in Hadoop (Hadoop on Windows Azure) you can simply use one of those, or if you just want to deploy a Virtual Machine (Windows Azure Virtual Machines) you can get that, but if you’re looking for a solution to a problem your organization has, you may need to mix Software, Infrastructure, and perhaps even Platforms (such as Windows Azure Computing) to solve the issue. It’s all about starting from the problem-end first. We’ve become so accustomed to looking for a box of software that will solve the problem, that we often start with the solution and try to fit it to the problem, rather than the other way around.  When I talk with my fellow architects at other companies, one of the hardest things to get them to do is to ignore the technology for a moment and describe what the issues are. It’s interesting to monitor the conversation and watch how many times we deviate from the problem into the solution. So, in your work today, try a little experiment: watch how many times you go after a problem by starting with the solution. Tomorrow, make a conscious effort to reverse that. You might be surprised at the results.

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• Presenting Loading Data Warehouse Partitions with SSIS 2012 at SQL Saturday DC!

  - by andyleonard

  Join Darryll Petrancuri and me as we present Loading Data Warehouse Partitions with SSIS 2012 Saturday 8 Dec 2012 at SQL Saturday 173 in DC ! SQL Server 2012 table partitions offer powerful Big Data solutions to the Data Warehouse ETL Developer. In this presentation, Darryll Petrancuri and Andy Leonard demonstrate one approach to loading partitioned tables and managing the partitions using SSIS 2012, and reporting partition metrics using SSRS 2012. Objectives A practical solution for loading Big...(read more)

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• SQL Saturday #274 Slovenia

  - by Dejan Sarka

  Yes, here it is SQL Saturday #274 is coming to Slovenia (#sqlsatSlovenia). The event will take place on Saturday, December 21st, at company pixi* labs, Informacijske tehnologije, d.o.o. Poslovna cona A 2 SI-4208 Šencur This company generously offered to host the event. We, the whole Slovenian SQL Server community, are very grateful for this. At this time, a call for speakers went out, and we are already getting the first proposals. We are especially happy that we will get possibility to show the foreign speakers how beautiful Slovenia and especially the capital Ljubljana is in December. Expect a lot of partying right on the streets, no matter of weather. Be prepared, we have slightly weird customs when it comes to drinks. For example, our regular special discount offer is not three drinks for the price of two; it is six drinks for the price of five. If you are a speaker or want to become one, consider sending a proposal. Since most of the sessions will be held in English and you don’t want to speak, consider coming as a visitor as well. Or maybe you would be interested to become a sponsor. Although we are targeting a low budgeted event, any kind of sponsorship is very welcome. Please feel free to contact the organizers if you are interested to become a sponsor: Matija Lah – [email protected], Mladen Prajdic - [email protected], or Dejan Sarka  - [email protected]. Looking forward to see you all!

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• SQL Server 2008 R2: StreamInsight changes at RTM: AdvanceTimeSettings

  - by Greg Low

  For those that have worked with the earlier versions of the simulator that Bill Chesnut and I constructed for the Metro content (the Highway Simulator), changes are also required to how AdvanceTimeSettings are specified. The AdapterAdvanceTimeSettings value is now generated by binding an AdvanceTimeGenerationSettings (that is based on your adapter configuration) with an AdvanceTimePolicy setting. public class TollPointInputFactory : ITypedInputAdapterFactory < TollPointInputConfig >, ITypedDeclareAdvanceTimeProperties...(read more)

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• Is Data Science “Science”?

  - by BuckWoody

  I hold the term “science” in very high esteem. I grew up on the Space Coast in Florida, and eventually worked at the Kennedy Space Center, surrounded by very intelligent people who worked in various scientific fields. Recently a new term has entered the computing dialog – “Data Scientist”. Since it’s not a standard term, it has a lot of definitions, and in fact has been disputed as a correct term. After all, the reasoning goes, if there’s no such thing as “Data Science” then how can there be a Data Scientist? This argument has been made before, albeit with a different term – “Computer Science”. In Peter Denning’s excellent article “Is Computer Science Science” (April  2005/Vol. 48, No. 4 COMMUNICATIONS OF THE ACM) there are many points that separate “science” from “engineering” and even “art”.  I won’t repeat the content of that article here (I recommend you read it on your own) but will leverage the points he makes there. Definition of Science To ask the question “is data science ‘science’” then we need to start with a definition of terms. Various references put the definition into the same basic areas: Study of the physical world Systematic and/or disciplined study of a subject area ...and then they include the things studied, the bodies of knowledge and so on. The word itself comes from Latin, and means merely “to know” or “to study to know”. Greek divides knowledge further into “truth” (episteme), and practical use or effects (tekhne). Normally computing falls into the second realm. Definition of Data Science And now a more controversial definition: Data Science. This term is so new and perhaps so niche that the major dictionaries haven’t yet picked it up (my OED reference is older – can’t afford to pop for the online registration at present). Researching the term's general use I created an amalgam of the definitions this way: “Studying and applying mathematical and other techniques to derive information from complex data sets.” Using this definition, data science certainly seems to be science - it's learning about and studying some object or area using systematic methods. But implicit within the definition is the word “application”, which makes the process more akin to engineering or even technology than science. In fact, I find that using these techniques – and data itself – part of science, not science itself. I leave out the concept of studying data patterns or algorithms as part of this discipline. That is actually a domain I see within research, mathematics or computer science. That of course is a type of science, but does not seek for practical applications. As part of the argument against calling it “Data Science”, some point to the scientific method of creating a hypothesis, testing with controls, testing results against the hypothesis, and documenting for repeatability.  These are not steps that we often take in working with data. We normally start with a question, and fit patterns and algorithms to predict outcomes and find correlations. In this way Data Science is more akin to statistics (and in fact makes heavy use of them) in the process rather than starting with an assumption and following on with it. So, is Data Science “Science”? I’m uncertain – and I’m uncertain it matters. Even if we are facing rampant “title inflation” these days (does anyone introduce themselves as a secretary or supervisor anymore?) I can tolerate the term at least from the intent that we use data to study problems across a wide spectrum, rather than restricting it to a single domain. And I also understand those who have worked hard to achieve the very honorable title of “scientist” who have issues with those who borrow the term without asking. What do you think? Science, or not? Does it matter?

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