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• head detection from video

  - by Aman Kaushal

  I have to detect heads of people in crowd in real time.For that I detected edge from video using matlab but from edge detected video , how to identify heads that i am unable to do. I used edge detection of video because it is easy to find circle from edged video and detection of head would be easy can anyone help me or suggest me any method for head- detection in real time. I have used VGG head detector and viola jones algorithm but it is only detecting face for small size video not detecting heads for large crowd. Suggestions?

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• how to use Thread in java ?

  - by tiendv

  Hi all i have code use googleseach API I want to use Thread to improve speed of my program. But i have a problem here is code import java.io.BufferedReader; import java.io.DataInputStream; import java.io.DataOutputStream; import java.io.InputStreamReader; import java.net.URL; import java.net.URLConnection; import java.net.URLEncoder; import java.util.ArrayList; import java.util.Enumeration; import java.util.Hashtable; import java.util.List; import org.json.JSONArray; import org.json.JSONObject; import com.yahoo.search.WebSearchResult; /** * Simple Search using Google ajax Web Services * * @author Daniel Jones Copyright 2006 Daniel Jones Licensed under BSD open * source license http://www.opensource.org/licenses/bsd-license.php */ public class GoogleSearchEngine extends Thread { private String queryString; private int maxResult; private ArrayList<String> resultGoogleArrayList = null; public ArrayList<String> getResultGoogleArrayList() { return resultGoogleArrayList; } public void setResultGoogleArrayList(ArrayList<String> resultGoogleArrayList) { this.resultGoogleArrayList = resultGoogleArrayList; } public String getQueryString() { return queryString; } public void setQueryString(String queryString) { this.queryString = queryString; } public int getMaxResult() { return maxResult; } public void setMaxResult(int maxResult) { this.maxResult = maxResult; } // Put your website here public final static String HTTP_REFERER = "http://www.example.com/"; public static ArrayList<String> makeQuery(String query, int maxResult) { ArrayList<String> finalArray = new ArrayList<String>(); ArrayList<String> returnArray = new ArrayList<String>(); try { query = URLEncoder.encode(query, "UTF-8"); int i = 0; String line = ""; StringBuilder builder = new StringBuilder(); while (true) { // Call GoogleAjaxAPI to submit the query URL url = new URL("http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/services/search/web?start=" + i + "&rsz=large&v=1.0&q=" + query); URLConnection connection = url.openConnection(); if (connection == null) { break; } // Value i to stop while or Max result if (i >= maxResult) { break; } connection.addRequestProperty("Referer", HTTP_REFERER); BufferedReader reader = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(connection.getInputStream(),"utf-8")); while ((line = reader.readLine()) != null) { builder.append(line); } String response = builder.toString(); JSONObject json = new JSONObject(response); JSONArray ja = json.getJSONObject("responseData").getJSONArray("results"); for (int j = 0; j < ja.length(); j++) { try { JSONObject k = ja.getJSONObject(j); // Break string into 2 parts: URL and Title by <br> returnArray.add(k.getString("url") + "<br>" + k.getString("titleNoFormatting")); } catch (Exception e) { e.printStackTrace(); } } i += 8; } // Remove objects that is over the max number result required if (returnArray.size() > maxResult) { for (int k=0; k<maxResult; k++){ finalArray.add(returnArray.get(k)); } } else return returnArray; return finalArray; } catch (Exception e) { e.printStackTrace(); } return null; } @Override public void run() { // TODO Auto-generated method stub //super.run(); this.resultGoogleArrayList = GoogleSearchEngine.makeQuery(queryString, maxResult); System.out.println("Code run here "); } public static void main(String[] args) { Thread test = new GoogleSearchEngine(); ((GoogleSearchEngine) test).setQueryString("data "); ((GoogleSearchEngine) test).setMaxResult(10); test.start(); ArrayList<String> returnGoogleArrayList = null; returnGoogleArrayList = ((GoogleSearchEngine) test).getResultGoogleArrayList(); System.out.print("contents of al:" + returnGoogleArrayList); } } when i run it, it can run into run method but it don't excute make query methor and return null array. when i do't use Thread it can nomal . Can you give me the reason why ? or give a sulution Thanks

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• Can I get a "base URL" in Wordpress within a template file?

  - by alex

  Usually in my PHP apps I have a base URL setup so I can do things like this <a href="<?php echo BASE_URL; ?>tom/jones">Tom</a> Then I can move my site from development to production and swap it easily and have the change go site wide (and it seems more reliable than <base href="" />. I'm doing up a Wordpress theme, and I am wondering, does WordPress have anything like this built in, or do I need to redefine my own? I can see ABSPATH, but that is the absolute file path in the file system, not something from the document root.

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• Chicago SQL Saturday

  - by Johnm

  This past Saturday, April 17, 2010, I journeyed North to the great city of Chicago for some SQL Server fun, learning and fellowship. The Chicago edition of this grassroots phenomenon was the 31st scheduled SQL Saturday since the program's birth in late 2007. The Chicago SQL Saturday consisted of four tracks with eight sessions each and was a very energetic and fast paced day for the 300+/- SQL Server enthusiasts in attendance. The speaker line up included national notables such as Kevin Kline, Brent Ozar, and Brad McGehee. My hometown of Indianapolis was well represented in the speaker line up with Arie Jones, Aaron King and Derek Comingore. The day began with a very humorous keynote by Kevin Kline and Brent Ozar who emphasized the importance of community events such as SQL Saturday and the monthly user group meetings. They also brilliantly included the impact that getting involved in the SQL community through social media can have on your professional career. My approach to the day was to try to experience as much of the event as I could, so there were very few sessions that I attended for their full duration. I leaped from session to session like a bumble bee, gleaning bits of nectar from each session. Amid these leaps I took the opportunity to briefly chat with some of the in-the-queue speakers as well as other attendees that wondered the hallways. I especially enjoyed a great discussion with Devin Knight about his plans regarding the upcoming Jacksonville SQL Saturday as well as an interesting SQL interpretation of the Iron Chef, which I think would catch on like wild-fire. There were two sessions that stood out as exceptional. So much so that I could not pull myself away: Kevin Kline presented on "SQL Server Internals and Architecture". This session could have been classified as one that is intended for the beginner. Kevin even personally warned me of such as I entered the room. I am a believer in revisiting the basics regardless of the level of your mastery, so I entered into this session in that spirit. It was a very clear and precise presentation. Masterfully illustrated and demonstrated. Brad McGehee presented on "How and When to Use Indexed Views". This was a topic that I was recently exploring and was considering to for use in an integration project. Brad effectively communicated the complexity of this feature and what is involved to gain their full benefit. It was clear at the conclusion of this session that it was not the right feature for my specific needs. Overall, the event was a great success. The use of volunteers, from an attendee's perspective was masterful. The only recommendation that I would have for the next Chicago SQL Saturday would be to include more time in between sessions to permit some level of networking among the attendees, one-on-one questions for speakers and visits to the sponsor booths. Congratulations to Wendy Pastrick, Ted Krueger, and Aaron Lowe for their efforts and a very successful SQL Saturday!

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• SQL SERVER – What the Business Says Is Not What the Business Wants

  - by pinaldave

  This blog post is written in response to T-SQL Tuesday hosted by Steve Jones. Steve raised a very interesting question; every DBA and Database Developer has already faced this situation. When I read the topic, I felt that I can write several different examples here. Today, I will cover this scenario, which seems quite amusing. Shrinking Database Earlier this year, I was working on SQL Server Performance Tuning consultancy; I had faced very interesting situation. No matter how much I attempt to reduce the fragmentation, I always end up with heavy fragmentation on the server. After careful research, I figured out that one of the jobs was continuously Shrinking the Database – which is a very bad practice. I have blogged about my experience over here SQL SERVER – SHRINKDATABASE For Every Database in the SQL Server. I removed the incorrect shrinking process right away; once it was removed, everything continued working as it should be. After a couple of days, I learned that one of their DBAs had put back the same DBCC process. I requested the Senior DBA to find out what is going on and he came up with the following reason: “Business Requirement.” I cannot believe this! Now, it was time for me to go deep into the subject. Moreover, it had become necessary to understand the need. After talking to the concerned people here, I understood what they needed. Please read the exact business need in their own language. The Shrinking “Business Need” “We shrink the database because if we take backup after shrinking the database, the size of the same is smaller. Once we take backup, we have to send it to our remote location site. Our business requirement is that we need to always make sure that the file is smallest when we transfer it to remote server.” The backup is not affected in any way if you shrink the database or not. The size of backup will be the same. After a couple of the tests, they agreed with me. Shrinking will create performance issues for the same as it will introduce heavy fragmentation in the database. The Real Solution The real business need was that they needed the smallest possible backup file. We finally implemented a quick solution which they are still using to date. The solution was compressed backup. I have written about this subject in detail few years before SQL SERVER – 2008 – Introduction to New Feature of Backup Compression. Compressed backup not only creates a small filesize but also increases the speed of the database as well. Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com) Filed under: Best Practices, Pinal Dave, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Query, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, SQLServer, T SQL, Technology

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• Exceptional DBA Awards 2011

  - by Rebecca Amos

  From today, we’re accepting nominations for the 2011 Exceptional DBA Awards. DBAs make a vital contribution to the running of the companies they work for, and the Exceptional DBA Awards aim to acknowledge this and make this contribution more widely known. Check out our new website for all the info: www.exceptionaldba.com  Being an exceptional DBA doesn’t mean you have to sleep at the office, or know everything there is to know about SQL Server; who ever could? It means that you make an effort to make your servers secure and reliable, and to make your users’ lives easier. Maybe you’ve helped a junior colleague learn something new about server backups? Or cancelled your coffee break to get a database back online? Or contributed to a forum post on performance monitoring? All of these actions show that you might be an exceptional DBA. So have a think about the tasks you do every day that already make you exceptional – and then get started on your entry! You just need to answer a few questions on our website about your experience as a DBA, some of your biggest achievements, and any other activities you participate in within the SQL Server community. Anyone who is currently working as a SQL Server database administrator can enter, or be nominated by someone else. We’ve got four fantastic judges for the Awards, who you’ll be familiar with already: Brent Ozar, Brad McGehee, Rodney Landrum and Steve Jones. They’ll pick five finalists, and then we’ll ask the SQL Server community to vote for their winner. Not only could you win the respect and recognition of peers and colleagues, but the prizes also include full conference registration for the 2011 PASS Summit in Seattle (where the awards ceremony will take place), four nights' hotel accommodation, and $300 towards travel expenses. The winner will get a copy of Red Gate’s SQL DBA Bundle – and they’ll also be featured here, on Simple-Talk. So what are you waiting for? Chances are you’ve already made a small effort for someone today that means you might be an exceptional DBA. Visit the website now, and start writing your entry – or nominate your favourite DBA to enter: www.exceptionaldba.com

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• Plan Operator Tuesday round-up

  - by Rob Farley

  Eighteen posts for T-SQL Tuesday #43 this month, discussing Plan Operators. I put them together and made the following clickable plan. It’s 1000px wide, so I hope you have a monitor wide enough. Let me explain this plan for you (people’s names are the links to the articles on their blogs – the same links as in the plan above). It was clearly a SELECT statement. Wayne Sheffield (@dbawayne) wrote about that, so we start with a SELECT physical operator, leveraging the logical operator Wayne Sheffield. The SELECT operator calls the Paul White operator, discussed by Jason Brimhall (@sqlrnnr) in his post. The Paul White operator is quite remarkable, and can consume three streams of data. Let’s look at those streams. The first pulls data from a Table Scan – Boris Hristov (@borishristov)’s post – using parallel threads (Bradley Ball – @sqlballs) that pull the data eagerly through a Table Spool (Oliver Asmus – @oliverasmus). A scalar operation is also performed on it, thanks to Jeffrey Verheul (@devjef)’s Compute Scalar operator. The second stream of data applies Evil (I figured that must mean a procedural TVF, but could’ve been anything), courtesy of Jason Strate (@stratesql). It performs this Evil on the merging of parallel streams (Steve Jones – @way0utwest), which suck data out of a Switch (Paul White – @sql_kiwi). This Switch operator is consuming data from up to four lookups, thanks to Kalen Delaney (@sqlqueen), Rick Krueger (@dataogre), Mickey Stuewe (@sqlmickey) and Kathi Kellenberger (@auntkathi). Unfortunately Kathi’s name is a bit long and has been truncated, just like in real plans. The last stream performs a join of two others via a Nested Loop (Matan Yungman – @matanyungman). One pulls data from a Spool (my post – @rob_farley) populated from a Table Scan (Jon Morisi). The other applies a catchall operator (the catchall is because Tamera Clark (@tameraclark) didn’t specify any particular operator, and a catchall is what gets shown when SSMS doesn’t know what to show. Surprisingly, it’s showing the yellow one, which is about cursors. Hopefully that’s not what Tamera planned, but anyway...) to the output from an Index Seek operator (Sebastian Meine – @sqlity). Lastly, I think everyone put in 110% effort, so that’s what all the operators cost. That didn’t leave anything for me, unfortunately, but that’s okay. Also, because he decided to use the Paul White operator, Jason Brimhall gets 0%, and his 110% was given to Paul’s Switch operator post. I hope you’ve enjoyed this T-SQL Tuesday, and have learned something extra about Plan Operators. Keep your eye out for next month’s one by watching the Twitter Hashtag #tsql2sday, and why not contribute a post to the party? Big thanks to Adam Machanic as usual for starting all this. @rob_farley

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• Amazon.com Cutting Off Colorado Affiliates

  - by Joe Mayo

  I received an email from Amazon.com today, essentially cutting off my affiliate status because I'm in Colorado. Colorado recently passed legislation that requires retailers to either collect sales tax for on-line transactions or engage in an onerous process that makes you wish you had collected sales tax.  After I Tweeted this, Mike Jones tweeted a link to the legislation.  Here's an excerpt from Amazon.com's email: "Dear Colorado-based Amazon Associate: We are writing from the Amazon Associates Program to inform you that the Colorado government recently enacted a law to impose sales tax regulations on online retailers. The regulations are burdensome and no other state has similar rules. The new regulations do not require online retailers to collect sales tax. Instead, they are clearly intended to increase the compliance burden to a point where online retailers will be induced to "voluntarily" collect Colorado sales tax -- a course we won't take. We and many others strongly opposed this legislation, known as HB 10-1193, but it was enacted anyway. Regrettably, as a result of the new law, we have decided to stop advertising through Associates based in Colorado. We plan to continue to sell to Colorado residents, however, and will advertise through other channels, including through Associates based in other states. There is a right way for Colorado to pursue its revenue goals, but this new law is a wrong way. As we repeatedly communicated to Colorado legislators, including those who sponsored and supported the new law, we are not opposed to collecting sales tax within a constitutionally-permissible system applied even-handedly. The US Supreme Court has defined what would be constitutional, and if Colorado would repeal the current law or follow the constitutional approach to collection, we would welcome the opportunity to reinstate Colorado-based Associates. You may express your views of Colorado's new law to members of the General Assembly and to Governor Ritter, who signed the bill. Your Associates account has been closed as of March 8, 2010, and we will no longer pay advertising fees for customers you refer to Amazon.com after that date. Please be assured that all qualifying advertising fees earned prior to March 8, 2010, will be processed and paid in accordance with our regular payment schedule. Based on your account closure date of March 8, any final payments will be paid by May 31, 2010. We have enjoyed working with you and other Colorado-based participants in the Amazon Associates Program, and wish you all the best in your future.   Best Regards,   The Amazon Associates Team"

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• links for 2011-01-06

  - by Bob Rhubart

  Coming to your town: Oracle Enterprise Cloud Summit During these full-day events, cloud experts will share real-world best practices, reference architectures, detailed customer case studies, and more. Events scheduled in cities around the world.  (tags: oracle otn cloud event) Webcast: Security and Compliance for Private Cloud Consolidation Roxana Bradescu, Senior Director for Oracle Database Security Products, discusses Oracle Database Security Solutions to securely consolidate data and meet compliance requirements within private cloud computing environments. Thursday, January 13, 2011. 10am PST | 1pm EST (tags: oracle cloud security) Answering Questions about Mobile Devices | The AppsLab "How do the numbers of Android and iOS users compare? How often are people switching? Where are all these BlackBerry and Nokia users? Do they plan to jump to Android or iOS? What about webOS? Is it relevant?" Some answers in this AppsLab survey. (tags: oracle otn enterprise2.0 mobilecomputing iphone blackberry android) Webcast: Achieve 24/7 Cloud Availability Without Expensive Redundancy Ashish Ray and Matthew Baier discuss Oracle’s Maximum Availability Architecture and Oracle Database 11g. (tags: oracle cloud highavailability webcast) Converting a PV vm back into an HVM vm (Wim Coekaerts Blog) "I wanted to convert one of my VMs that was based on a paravirt kernel into a vm that just boots as a regular hardware virt VM with a standard x86-64 kernel...It took me a little while to figure out the fastest way so now that I have it pretty much down I wanted to share the steps." - Wim Coekaerts (tags: oracle otn virtualization oraclevm) @OTN_Garage: Resources for VirtualBox 4.0 Rick "@OTN_Garage" Ramsey shares links to several resources for those with a VirtualBox jones. (tags: oracle otn virtualization virtualbox) 'Federal Service Bus' Helps Belgian Government Speak a Common Language - SOA in Action Blog "The first SOA-enabled application was developed in less than two months and was fully operational in approximately 10 weeks. In addition, new FSB modules are reusable for other Belgian e-government applications, saving both time and taxpayer dollars." - Joe McKendrick (tags: soa oracle) Show Notes: Architects in the Cloud (ArchBeat Podcast) The complete 4-part interview with Stephen G. Bennett and Archie Reed, the authors of "Silver Clouds, Dark Linings: A Concise Guide to Cloud Computing," is now available. (tags: oracle otn cloud podcast archbeat)

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• Unable to add users to Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 after database restore

  - by Wes Weeks

  Working with a client in our Multi-tenant CRM environment who was doing a database migration into CRM and as part of the process, a backup of their Organization_MSCRM database was taken just prior to starting the migration in case it needed to be restored and run a second time. In this case it did, so I restored the database and let the client know he should be good to go.  A few hours later I received a call that they were unable to add some new users, they would appear as available when using the add multiple user wizard, but anyone added would not be added to CRM.  It was also disucussed that these users had been added to CRM initally AFTER the database backup had been taken. I turned on tracing and tried to add the users through both the single user form and multiple user interface and was unable to do so.  The error message in the logs wasn't much help: Unexpected error adding user [email protected]: Microsoft.Crm.CrmException: INVALID_WRPC_TOKEN: Validate WRPC Token: WRPCTokenState=Invalid, TOKEN_EXPIRY=4320, IGNORE_TOKEN=False Searching on Google or bing didn't offer any assitance.  Apparently not a very common problem, or no one has been able to resolve. I did some searching in the MSCRM_CONFIG database and found that their are several user tables there and after getting my head around the structure found that there were enties here for users that were not part of the restored DB.  It seems that new users are added to both the Orgnaization_MSCRM and MSCRM_CONFIG and after the restore these were out of sync. I needed to remove the extra entries in order to address.  Restoring the MSCRM_CONFIG database was not an option as other clients could have been adding users at this point and to restore would risk breaking their instances of CRM.  Long story short, I was finally able to generate a script to remove the bad entries and when I tried to add users again, I was succesful.  In case someone else out there finds themselves in a similar situation, here is the script I used to delete the bad entries. DECLARE @UsersToDelete TABLE (   UserId uniqueidentifier )   Insert Into @UsersToDelete(UserId) Select UserId from [MSCRM_CONFIG].[dbo].[SystemUserOrganizations] Where CrmuserId Not in (select systemuserid from Organization_MSCRM.dbo.SystemUserBase) And OrganizationId = '00000000-643F-E011-0000-0050568572A1' --Id From the Organization table for this instance   Delete From [MSCRM_CONFIG].[dbo].[SystemUserAuthentication]   Where UserId in (Select UserId From @UsersToDelete)   Delete From [MSCRM_CONFIG].[dbo].[SystemUserOrganizations] Where UserId in (Select UserId From @UsersToDelete)   Delete From [MSCRM_CONFIG].[dbo].[SystemUser] Where Id in (Select UserId From @UsersToDelete)

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• links for 2011-01-31

  - by Bob Rhubart

  Do (Software) Architects Architect? "The first question, is 'Why is architect being used as a verb?' Mirriam-Webster dictionary does not contain a definition of architect as a verb, nor do many other recognized dictionaries." -- TheCPUWizard (tags: softwarearchitecture) Oracle Business Intelligence Blog: Gartner Magic Quadrant for BI Platforms 2011 "Oracle customers indicate they deploy the Oracle Business Intelligence Suite Enterprise Edition (OBIEE) platform to support among the most complex deployments in our survey." - Gartner (tags: oracle businessintelligence gartner) Oracle BI Server Modeling, Part 1- Designing a Query Factory (Oracle BI Foundation) Bob Ertl lays the groundwork for Business Intelligence modeling concepts with a look at "the big picture of how the BI Server fits into the system, and how the CEIM controls the query processing." (tags: oracle otn businessintelligence) Tom Graves: Modelling people in enterprise-architecture Tom says: "One of the key characteristics of ‘crossing the chasm’ to a viable whole-of-enterprise architecture is the explicit inclusion of people. In short, we need to be able to model and map where people fit in relation to the architecture. But there’s a catch. A big catch." (tags: entarch) Java developer webcasts for customers and partners (SOA Partner Community Blog) Jurgen Kress shares info on several upcoming online events focused on WebLogic. (tags: weblogic oracle otn soa) Business SOA: Data Services are bogus, Information services are real Steve Jones says: "The other day when I was talking about MDM a bright spark pointed out that I hated data services but wasn't MDM just about data services?" (tags: SOA MDM) Andrejus Baranovskis's Blog: Configuring Missing Contribution Folders for Oracle UCM 11g and WebCenter 11g PS3 Andrejus says: "After doing some research on UCM, we found that Folders_g component must be configured in UCM, for Contribution Folders to be enabled." (tags: oracle otn oracleace UCM webcenter enterprise2.0) Wim Coekaerts: Converting an Oracle VM VirtualBox VM into an Oracle VM Server image Wim Coekaerts offers a few simple steps to convert an existing Oracle VM VirtualBox image.  (tags: oracle otn virtualization virtualbox) Stefan Hinker: Secure Deployment of Oracle VM Server for SPARC This new paper from Stefan Hinker will help you understand the general security concerns in virtualized environments as well as the specific additional threats that arise out of them. (tags: oracle otn SPARC virtualization enterprisearchitecture) The EA Roadmap to Rationalize, Standardize, and Consolidate the IT Portfolio Enterprise IT is in a state of constant evolution. As a result, business processes and technologies become increasingly more difficult to change and more costly to keep up-to-date. (tags: entarch oracle otn)

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• SQL Saturday 43 (Redmond, WA) Review

  - by BuckWoody

  Last Saturday (June 12th) we held a “SQL Saturday” (more about those here) event in Redmond, Washington. The event was held at the Microsoft campus, at the Mixer in our new location called the “Commons”. This is a mall-like area that we have on campus, and the Mixer is a large building with lots of meeting rooms, so it made a perfect location for the event. There was a sign to find the parking, and once there they had a sign to show how to get to the building. Since it’s a secure facility, Greg Larsen and crew had a person manning the door so that even late arrivals could get in. We had about 400 sign up for the event, and a little over 300 attend (official numbers later). I think we would have had a lot more, but the sun was out – and you just can’t underestimate the effect of that here in the Pacific Northwest. We joke a lot about not seeing the sun much, but when a day like what we had on Saturday comes around, and on a weekend at that, you’d cancel your wedding to go outside to play in the sun. And your spouse would agree with you for doing it. We had some top-notch speakers, including Clifford Dibble and Kalen Delany. The food was great, we had multiple sponsors (including Confio who seems to be at all of these) and the attendees were from all over the professional spectrum, from developers to BI to DBA’s. Everyone I saw was very engaged, and when I visited room-to-room I saw almost no one in the halls – everyone was in the sessions. I also saw a much larger Microsoft presence this year, especially from Dan Jones’ team. I had a great turnout at my session, and yes, I was wearing an Oracle staff shirt. I did that because I wanted to show that the session I gave on “SQL Server for the Oracle DBA” was non-marketing – I couldn’t exactly bash Oracle wearing their colors! These events are amazing. I can’t emphasize enough how much I appreciate the volunteers and how much work they put into these events, and to you for coming. If you’re reading this and you haven’t attended one yet, definitely find out if there is one in your area – and if not, start one. It’s a lot of work, but it’s totally worth it.       Share this post: email it! | bookmark it! | digg it! | reddit! | kick it! | live it!

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• SQL Saturday 43 (Redmond, WA) Review

  - by BuckWoody

  Last Saturday (June 12th) we held a “SQL Saturday” (more about those here) event in Redmond, Washington. The event was held at the Microsoft campus, at the Mixer in our new location called the “Commons”. This is a mall-like area that we have on campus, and the Mixer is a large building with lots of meeting rooms, so it made a perfect location for the event. There was a sign to find the parking, and once there they had a sign to show how to get to the building. Since it’s a secure facility, Greg Larsen and crew had a person manning the door so that even late arrivals could get in. We had about 400 sign up for the event, and a little over 300 attend (official numbers later). I think we would have had a lot more, but the sun was out – and you just can’t underestimate the effect of that here in the Pacific Northwest. We joke a lot about not seeing the sun much, but when a day like what we had on Saturday comes around, and on a weekend at that, you’d cancel your wedding to go outside to play in the sun. And your spouse would agree with you for doing it. We had some top-notch speakers, including Clifford Dibble and Kalen Delany. The food was great, we had multiple sponsors (including Confio who seems to be at all of these) and the attendees were from all over the professional spectrum, from developers to BI to DBA’s. Everyone I saw was very engaged, and when I visited room-to-room I saw almost no one in the halls – everyone was in the sessions. I also saw a much larger Microsoft presence this year, especially from Dan Jones’ team. I had a great turnout at my session, and yes, I was wearing an Oracle staff shirt. I did that because I wanted to show that the session I gave on “SQL Server for the Oracle DBA” was non-marketing – I couldn’t exactly bash Oracle wearing their colors! These events are amazing. I can’t emphasize enough how much I appreciate the volunteers and how much work they put into these events, and to you for coming. If you’re reading this and you haven’t attended one yet, definitely find out if there is one in your area – and if not, start one. It’s a lot of work, but it’s totally worth it.       Share this post: email it! | bookmark it! | digg it! | reddit! | kick it! | live it!

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• Information Indepth Newsletter - Linux Edition

  - by Paulo Folgado

  INFORMATION INDEPTH NEWSLETTERLinux Edition February 2011 Stay Connected:  NEWS Now Available: Oracle Linux 6 Get the latest release of Oracle Linux 6, which includes Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel.Download Oracle Linux 6 Read More Customers Succeed by Using Oracle Exadata with Oracle Linux Watch IT executives from Bank of America, Linkshare, and Johns Hopkins as they talk about the business challenges they faced and why they chose to use Oracle Linux along with Oracle Exadata as the solution. Watch Now Video Interview: Oracle Senior Vice President Wim Coekaerts Watch Wim Coekaerts, senior vice president, Linux and Virtualization Engineering, as he talks about use cases for Oracle VM Templates as well as the Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel for Linux.Watch Now Hot Off the Press: Migrate Your IBM AIX Environment to Oracle Linux This new white paper provides recommendations for planning and implementing the migration of applications from an IBM Power System running AIX to Oracle's Sun Fire X4800 Server with Intel Xeon 7560 Processor running Oracle Linux 5.5.Read More  Back to Top BLOGOSPHERE Just Launched: The Oracle Linux Blog Follow our new Oracle Linux blog  to hear the latest updates, product news, upcoming events, and all the latest happenings, directly from the Linux team at Oracle. Back to Top TECH DIVE NEW: Linux/Oracle Solaris CommandComparo Site from Oracle Technology NetworkThis site gives equivalent command syntax in Oracle Solaris 10 and Oracle Enterprise Linux 5 for common administrative tasks--focusing particularly on tasks that have tricky syntax or that you frequently need to double check. It acts as a quick reference for administrators who operate in these two OS environments. Free Download: Oracle Linux Release 5.6Did you know that by using Oracle Linux 5.5 or 5.6 along with the Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel, you can get all the benefits of Linux mainline kernel 2.6.32 and more, right now, without the need to reinstall or migrate to a new operating system such as RHEL6?Read Release NotesDownload Oracle Linux 5.6 LSB 4.0 Certification Completed for Oracle Linux 5.5Oracle Linux 5.5 with Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel successfully completed the LSB 4.0 certification.  Back to Top WEBCASTS Boost Your Linux Performance with Oracle's Enhancements in Infiniband and RDSRegister to hear Director of Kernel Engineering Chris Mason cover scalability and performance improvements in Linux environment. Get the Facts Oracle's Unbreakable Enterprise KernelSVP Wim Coekaerts and Senior Director Monica Kumar cover the facts about and benefits of using Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel.  View Other Webcasts on Demand   Back to Top EVENTS Collaborate 2011April 10-14 Orlando, Florida Cloud Summit Events, WorldwideVarious dates (check the city for date/time of event) Datacenter Efficiency Events WorldwideThese events include Linux and Oracle VM sessions.Various dates (check the city for date/time of event) Virtualization Events in North America Find an Oracle Event  Back to Top EDUCATION Get Oracle Linux Certified from Oracle University Oracle University offers courses in both Oracle Linux and the administration of Oracle Database on Linux.  Back to Top CUSTOMER SPOTLIGHT Pella Corporation Improves IT Performance and Efficiency with Oracle Linux and Oracle VM To improve IT performance and efficiency and lower operational costs, Pella Corporation, has standardized on Oracle VM and Oracle Linux. Read More Disney Store Deploys POS in 330 Stores and 7 Countries on Oracle Linux Disney Store is running 1,500 registers worldwide on a broad Oracle technology software stack including Oracle Database 11g, Oracle Fusion Middleware, and Oracle Linux. Read More Back to Top PARTNER SPOTLIGHT Emulex and Oracle Announce Data Integrity Features The Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel provides data integrity checking between Oracle Database applications and Emulex 8Gb/s LightPulse Fibre Channel Host Bus Adapters. Read More Dell Inc. Dell Inc. tested and validated configurations support Oracle Linux. Back to Top STAY IN TOUCH Follow @ORCL_Linux on Twitter for the latest penguin tweets Bookmark Oracle.com/Linux Read the Oracle Linux blog Back to Top  Oracle Information InDepth newsletters bring targeted news, articles, customer stories, and special offers to business people who want to find out how to streamline enterprise information management, measure results, improve business processes, and communicate a single truth to their constituents. Please send questions or comments to [email protected]. For answers to questions about subscribing, unsubscribing, and managing your Oracle e-mail communications preferences, please see the Oracle E-Mail Communications page. Copyright © 2011, Oracle Corporation and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Oracle is a registered trademark of Oracle Corporation and/or its affiliates. Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners. This document is provided for information purposes only, and the contents hereof are subject to change without notice. This document is not warranted to be error-free, nor is it subject to any other warranties or conditions, whether expressed orally or implied in law, including implied warranties and conditions of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. We specifically disclaim any liability with respect to this document, and no contractual obligations are formed either directly or indirectly by this document. This document may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, for any purpose, without our prior written permission. 

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• An Alphabet of Eponymous Aphorisms, Programming Paradigms, Software Sayings, Annoying Alliteration

  - by Brian Schroer

  Malcolm Anderson blogged about “Einstein’s Razor” yesterday, which reminded me of my favorite software development “law”, the name of which I can never remember. It took much Wikipedia-ing to find it (Hofstadter’s Law – see below), but along the way I compiled the following list: Amara’s Law: We tend to overestimate the effect of a technology in the short run and underestimate the effect in the long run. Brook’s Law: Adding manpower to a late software project makes it later. Clarke’s Third Law: Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. Law of Demeter: Each unit should only talk to its friends; don't talk to strangers. Einstein’s Razor: “Make things as simple as possible, but not simpler” is the popular paraphrase, but what he actually said was “It can scarcely be denied that the supreme goal of all theory is to make the irreducible basic elements as simple and as few as possible without having to surrender the adequate representation of a single datum of experience”, an overly complicated quote which is an obvious violation of Einstein’s Razor. (You can tell by looking at a picture of Einstein that the dude was hardly an expert on razors or other grooming apparati.) Finagle's Law of Dynamic Negatives: Anything that can go wrong, will—at the worst possible moment. - O'Toole's Corollary: The perversity of the Universe tends towards a maximum. Greenspun's Tenth Rule: Any sufficiently complicated C or Fortran program contains an ad hoc, informally-specified, bug-ridden, slow implementation of half of Common Lisp. (Morris’s Corollary: “…including Common Lisp”) Hofstadter's Law: It always takes longer than you expect, even when you take into account Hofstadter's Law. Issawi’s Omelet Analogy: One cannot make an omelet without breaking eggs - but it is amazing how many eggs one can break without making a decent omelet. Jackson’s Rules of Optimization: Rule 1: Don't do it. Rule 2 (for experts only): Don't do it yet. Kaner’s Caveat: A program which perfectly meets a lousy specification is a lousy program. Liskov Substitution Principle (paraphrased): Functions that use pointers or references to base classes must be able to use objects of derived classes without knowing it Mason’s Maxim: Since human beings themselves are not fully debugged yet, there will be bugs in your code no matter what you do. Nils-Peter Nelson’s Nil I/O Rule: The fastest I/O is no I/O.    Occam's Razor: The simplest explanation is usually the correct one. Parkinson’s Law: Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion. Quentin Tarantino’s Pie Principle: “…you want to go home have a drink and go and eat pie and talk about it.” (OK, he was talking about movies, not software, but I couldn’t find a “Q” quote about software. And wouldn’t it be cool to write a program so great that the users want to eat pie and talk about it?) Raymond’s Rule: Computer science education cannot make anybody an expert programmer any more than studying brushes and pigment can make somebody an expert painter.  Sowa's Law of Standards: Whenever a major organization develops a new system as an official standard for X, the primary result is the widespread adoption of some simpler system as a de facto standard for X. Turing’s Tenet: We shall do a much better programming job, provided we approach the task with a full appreciation of its tremendous difficulty, provided that we respect the intrinsic limitations of the human mind and approach the task as very humble programmers.  Udi Dahan’s Race Condition Rule: If you think you have a race condition, you don’t understand the domain well enough. These rules didn’t exist in the age of paper, there is no reason for them to exist in the age of computers. When you have race conditions, go back to the business and find out actual rules. Van Vleck’s Kvetching: We know about as much about software quality problems as they knew about the Black Plague in the 1600s. We've seen the victims' agonies and helped burn the corpses. We don't know what causes it; we don't really know if there is only one disease. We just suffer -- and keep pouring our sewage into our water supply. Wheeler’s Law: All problems in computer science can be solved by another level of indirection... Except for the problem of too many layers of indirection. Wheeler also said “Compatibility means deliberately repeating other people's mistakes.”. The Wrong Road Rule of Mr. X (anonymous): No matter how far down the wrong road you've gone, turn back. Yourdon’s Rule of Two Feet: If you think your management doesn't know what it's doing or that your organisation turns out low-quality software crap that embarrasses you, then leave. Zawinski's Law of Software Envelopment: Every program attempts to expand until it can read mail. Zawinski is also responsible for “Some people, when confronted with a problem, think 'I know, I'll use regular expressions.' Now they have two problems.” He once commented about X Windows widget toolkits: “Using these toolkits is like trying to make a bookshelf out of mashed potatoes.”

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• SQL Query to update parent record with child record values

  - by Wells

  I need to create a Trigger that fires when a child record (Codes) is added, updated or deleted. The Trigger stuffs a string of comma separated Code values from all child records (Codes) into a single field in the parent record (Projects) of the added, updated or deleted child record. I am stuck on writing a correct query to retrieve the Code values from just those child records that are the children of a single parent record. -- Create the test tables CREATE TABLE projects ( ProjectId varchar(16) PRIMARY KEY, ProjectName varchar(100), Codestring nvarchar(100) ) GO CREATE TABLE prcodes ( CodeId varchar(16) PRIMARY KEY, Code varchar (4), ProjectId varchar(16) ) GO -- Add sample data to tables: Two projects records, one with 3 child records, the other with 2. INSERT INTO projects (ProjectId, ProjectName) SELECT '101','Smith' UNION ALL SELECT '102','Jones' GO INSERT INTO prcodes (CodeId, Code, ProjectId) SELECT 'A1','Blue', '101' UNION ALL SELECT 'A2','Pink', '101' UNION ALL SELECT 'A3','Gray', '101' UNION ALL SELECT 'A4','Blue', '102' UNION ALL SELECT 'A5','Gray', '102' GO I am stuck on how to create a correct Update query. Can you help fix this query? -- Partially working, but stuffs all values, not just values from chile (prcodes) records of parent (projects) UPDATE proj SET proj.Codestring = (SELECT STUFF((SELECT ',' + prc.Code FROM projects proj INNER JOIN prcodes prc ON proj.ProjectId = prc.ProjectId ORDER BY 1 ASC FOR XML PATH('')),1, 1, '')) The result I get for the Codestring field in Projects is: ProjectId ProjectName Codestring 101 Smith Blue,Blue,Gray,Gray,Pink ... But the result I need for the Codestring field in Projects is: ProjectId ProjectName Codestring 101 Smith Blue,Pink,Gray ... Here is my start on the Trigger. The Update query, above, will be added to this Trigger. Can you help me complete the Trigger creation query? CREATE TRIGGER Update_Codestring ON prcodes AFTER INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE AS WITH CTE AS ( select ProjectId from inserted union select ProjectId from deleted )

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• List of freely available programming books

  - by Karan Bhangui

  I'm trying to amass a list of programming books with opensource licenses, like Creative Commons, GPL, etc. The books can be about a particular programming language or about computers in general. Hoping you guys could help: Languages BASH Advanced Bash-Scripting Guide (An in-depth exploration of the art of shell scripting) C The C book C++ Thinking in C++ C++ Annotations How to Think Like a Computer Scientist C# .NET Book Zero: What the C or C++ Programmer Needs to Know About C# and the .NET Framework Illustrated C# 2008 (Dead Link) Data Structures and Algorithms with Object-Oriented Design Patterns in C# Threading in C# Common Lisp Practical Common Lisp On Lisp Java Thinking in Java How to Think Like a Computer Scientist Java Thin-Client Programming JavaScript Eloquent JavaScript Haskell Real world Haskell Learn You a Haskell for Great Good! Objective-C The Objective-C Programming Language Perl Extreme Perl (license not specified - home page is saying "freely available") The Mason Book (Open Publication License) Practical mod_perl (CreativeCommons Attribution Share-Alike License) Higher-Order Perl Learning Perl the Hard Way PHP Practical PHP Programming Zend Framework: Survive the Deep End PowerShell Mastering PowerShell Prolog Building Expert Systems in Prolog Adventure in Prolog Prolog Programming A First Course Logic, Programming and Prolog (2ed) Introduction to Prolog for Mathematicians Learn Prolog Now! Natural Language Processing Techniques in Prolog Python Dive Into Python Dive Into Python 3 How to Think Like a Computer Scientist A Byte of Python Python for Fun Invent Your Own Computer Games With Python Ruby Why's (Poignant) Guide to Ruby Programming Ruby - The Pragmatic Programmer's Guide Mr. Neighborly's Humble Little Ruby Book SQL Practical PostgreSQL x86 assembly Paul Carter's tutorial Lua Programming In Lua (for v5 but still largely relevant) Algorithms and Data Structures Algorithms Data Structures and Algorithms with Object-Oriented Design Patterns in Java Planning Algorithms Frameworks/Projects The Django Book The Pylons Book Introduction to Design Patterns in C++ with Qt 4 (Open Publication License) Version control The SVN Book Mercurial: The Definitive Guide Pro Git UNIX / Linux The Art of Unix Programming Linux Device Drivers, Third Edition Others Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs The Little Book of Semaphores Mathematical Logic - an Introduction An Introduction to the Theory of Computation Developers Developers Developers Developers Linkers and loaders Beej's Guide to Network Programming Maven: The Definitive Guide I will expand on this list as I get comments or when I think of more :D Related: Programming texts and reference material for my Kindle What are some good free programming books? Can anyone recommend a free software engineering book? Edit: Oh I didn't notice the community wiki feature. Feel free to edit your suggestions right in!

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• agent-based simulation: performance issue: Python vs NetLogo & Repast

  - by max

  I'm replicating a small piece of Sugarscape agent simulation model in Python 3. I found the performance of my code is ~3 times slower than that of NetLogo. Is it likely the problem with my code, or can it be the inherent limitation of Python? Obviously, this is just a fragment of the code, but that's where Python spends two-thirds of the run-time. I hope if I wrote something really inefficient it might show up in this fragment: UP = (0, -1) RIGHT = (1, 0) DOWN = (0, 1) LEFT = (-1, 0) all_directions = [UP, DOWN, RIGHT, LEFT] # point is just a tuple (x, y) def look_around(self): max_sugar_point = self.point max_sugar = self.world.sugar_map[self.point].level min_range = 0 random.shuffle(self.all_directions) for r in range(1, self.vision+1): for d in self.all_directions: p = ((self.point[0] + r * d[0]) % self.world.surface.length, (self.point[1] + r * d[1]) % self.world.surface.height) if self.world.occupied(p): # checks if p is in a lookup table (dict) continue if self.world.sugar_map[p].level > max_sugar: max_sugar = self.world.sugar_map[p].level max_sugar_point = p if max_sugar_point is not self.point: self.move(max_sugar_point) Roughly equivalent code in NetLogo (this fragment does a bit more than the Python function above): ; -- The SugarScape growth and motion procedures. -- to M ; Motion rule (page 25) locals [ps p v d] set ps (patches at-points neighborhood) with [count turtles-here = 0] if (count ps > 0) [ set v psugar-of max-one-of ps [psugar] ; v is max sugar w/in vision set ps ps with [psugar = v] ; ps is legal sites w/ v sugar set d distance min-one-of ps [distance myself] ; d is min dist from me to ps agents set p random-one-of ps with [distance myself = d] ; p is one of the min dist patches if (psugar >= v and includeMyPatch?) [set p patch-here] setxy pxcor-of p pycor-of p ; jump to p set sugar sugar + psugar-of p ; consume its sugar ask p [setpsugar 0] ; .. setting its sugar to 0 ] set sugar sugar - metabolism ; eat sugar (metabolism) set age age + 1 end On my computer, the Python code takes 15.5 sec to run 1000 steps; on the same laptop, the NetLogo simulation running in Java inside the browser finishes 1000 steps in less than 6 sec. EDIT: Just checked Repast, using Java implementation. And it's also about the same as NetLogo at 5.4 sec. Recent comparisons between Java and Python suggest no advantage to Java, so I guess it's just my code that's to blame? EDIT: I understand MASON is supposed to be even faster than Repast, and yet it still runs Java in the end.

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• Postfix logs missing information on delivery status (postfix/smtp message)

  - by hegemon

  I noticed a problem with postfix logs, that information on some of emails delivery status is missing. The issue affects about 1% of emails. "Healthy" log: <server># grep 8EB992EFBB44 postfix_log/mail04.log Jun 5 03:09:29 mail04 postfix/smtpd[8537]: 8EB992EFBB44: client=xxx.xxx.xxx[xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx] Jun 5 03:09:29 mail04 postfix/cleanup[34349]: 8EB992EFBB44: message-id=<[email protected]> Jun 5 03:12:02 mail04 postfix/qmgr[76377]: 8EB992EFBB44: from=<[email protected]>, size=48845, nrcpt=1 (queue active) Jun 5 03:15:12 mail04 postfix/smtp[35058]: 8EB992EFBB44: to=<[email protected]>, relay=mx.baz.com[xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx]:25, conn_use=70, delay=343, delays=153/190/0/0.24, dsn=2.0.0, status=sent (250 ok) Jun 5 03:15:12 mail04 postfix/qmgr[76377]: 8EB992EFBB44: removed "Broken" log: <server># grep F3C362EF37CA postfix_log/mail04.log Jun 5 04:03:27 mail04 postfix/smtpd[39666]: F3C362EF37CA: client=xxx.xxx.xxx[xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx] Jun 5 04:03:27 mail04 postfix/cleanup[41287]: F3C362EF37CA: message-id=<[email protected]> Jun 5 04:03:28 mail04 postfix/qmgr[76377]: F3C362EF37CA: from=<[email protected]>, size=48892, nrcpt=1 (queue active) ** here should be a log line from postfix/smtp but there is none ** Jun 5 04:03:29 mail04 postfix/qmgr[76377]: F3C362EF37CA: removed Background information: system: FreeBSD xxx.xxx.xxx 8.2-RELEASE FreeBSD 8.2-RELEASE #0: Thu Feb 17 02:41:51 UTC 2011 [email protected]:/usr/obj/usr/src/sys/GENERIC amd64 Postfix is installed inside jail. Logs are on the same machine, log dir is mounted thru nullfs. The site has spikes of heavy load, causing disks (local) to run at 100%. Update The log is rotated daily, current size is ~ 500MB. I made a test by queuing 99000 messages to same destination (in order to rule out dns/network/mx issues). 5715 messages don't have any DSN record. Failed messages queue time is spread evenly over time, i don't see any time-bound issues. Some undelivered emails: envelopeid | processed_time --------------+---------------------------- 8D7652EF3BAE | 2012-06-06 13:19:11.072715 DD53A2EF3C5C | 2012-06-06 13:33:24.374783 8C52F2EF4E3F | 2012-06-06 13:39:15.810616 BBC572EF525C | 2012-06-06 13:44:22.762812 E95822EF54D1 | 2012-06-06 13:52:01.134533 839DD2EF4FBB | 2012-06-06 14:13:48.511236 017EE2EF6234 | 2012-06-06 15:04:48.618963 Those are a few picks, such records of undelivered email occur almost every second. <server># egrep '(8D7652EF3BAE|BBC572EF525C|017EE2EF6234)' mail04.log Jun 6 13:19:10 mail04 postfix/smtpd[20350]: 8D7652EF3BAE: client=xxx.xxx.xxx[xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx] Jun 6 13:19:10 mail04 postfix/cleanup[21024]: 8D7652EF3BAE: message-id=<[email protected]> Jun 6 13:19:10 mail04 postfix/qmgr[7939]: 8D7652EF3BAE: from=<[email protected]>, size=63718, nrcpt=1 (queue active) Jun 6 13:19:11 mail04 postfix/qmgr[7939]: 8D7652EF3BAE: removed Jun 6 13:44:22 mail04 postfix/smtpd[20346]: BBC572EF525C: client=xxx.xxx.xxx[xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx] Jun 6 13:44:22 mail04 postfix/cleanup[24811]: BBC572EF525C: message-id=<[email protected]> Jun 6 13:44:22 mail04 postfix/qmgr[7939]: BBC572EF525C: from=<[email protected]>, size=63758, nrcpt=1 (queue active) Jun 6 15:04:49 mail04 postfix/smtpd[20344]: 017EE2EF6234: client=xxx.xxx.xxx[xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx] Jun 6 15:04:49 mail04 postfix/cleanup[35585]: 017EE2EF6234: message-id=<[email protected]> Jun 6 15:04:49 mail04 postfix/qmgr[7939]: 017EE2EF6234: from=<[email protected]>, size=63706, nrcpt=1 (queue active) <server># <server># find /var/spool/postfix/active/ -type f -print | wc -l 1 <server># IMPORTANT: As you can see above some of emails doesn't event have the removed line.

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• Pigs in Socks?

  - by MightyZot

  My wonderful wife Annie surprised me with a cruise to Cozumel for my fortieth birthday. I love to travel. Every trip is ripe with adventure, crazy things to see and experience. For example, on the way to Mobile Alabama to catch our boat, some dude hauling a mobile home lost a window and we drove through a cloud of busting glass going 80 miles per hour! The night before the cruise, we stayed in the Malaga Inn and I crawled UNDER the hotel to look at an old civil war bunker. WOAH! Then, on the way to and from Cozumel, the boat plowed through two beautiful and slightly violent storms. But, the adventures you have while travelling often pale in comparison to the cult of personalities you meet along the way.  :) We met many cool people during our travels and we made some new friends. Todd and Andrea are in the publishing business (www.myneworleans.com) and teaching, respectively. Erika is a teacher too and Matt has a pig on his foot. This story is about the pig. Without that pig on Matt’s foot, we probably would have hit a buoy and drowned. Alright, so…this pig on Matt’s foot…this is no henna tatt, this is a man’s tattoo. Apparently, getting tattoos on your feet is very painful because there is very little muscle and fat and lots of nifty nerves to tell you that you might be doing something stupid. Pig and rooster tattoos carry special meaning for sailors of old. According to some sources, having a tattoo of a pig or rooster on one foot or the other will keep you from drowning. There are many great musings as to why a pig and a rooster might save your life. The most plausible in my opinion is that pigs and roosters were common livestock tagging along with the crew. Since they were shipped in wooden crates, pigs and roosters were often counted amongst the survivors when ships succumbed to Davy Jones’ Locker. I didn’t spend a whole lot of time researching the pig and the rooster, so consider these musings as you would a grain of salt. And, I was not able to find a lot of what you might consider credible history regarding the tradition. What I did find was a comfort, or solace, in the maritime tradition. Seems like raw traditions like the pig and the rooster are in danger of getting lost in a sea of non-permanence. I mean, what traditions are us old programmers and techies leaving behind for future generations? Makes me wonder what Ward Christensen has tattooed on his left foot.  I guess my choice would have to be a Commodore 64.   (I met Ward, by the way, in an elevator after he received his Dvorak awards in 1992. He was a very non-assuming individual sporting business casual and was very much a “sailor” of an old-school programmer. I can’t remember his exact words, but I think they were essentially that he felt it odd that he was getting an award for just doing his work. I’m sure that Ward doesn’t know this…he couldn’t have set a more positive example for a young 22 year old programmer. Thanks Ward!)

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• SQL SERVER – Merge Operations – Insert, Update, Delete in Single Execution

  - by pinaldave

  This blog post is written in response to T-SQL Tuesday hosted by Jorge Segarra (aka SQLChicken). I have been very active using these Merge operations in my development. However, I have found out from my consultancy work and friends that these amazing operations are not utilized by them most of the time. Here is my attempt to bring the necessity of using the Merge Operation to surface one more time. MERGE is a new feature that provides an efficient way to do multiple DML operations. In earlier versions of SQL Server, we had to write separate statements to INSERT, UPDATE, or DELETE data based on certain conditions; however, at present, by using the MERGE statement, we can include the logic of such data changes in one statement that even checks when the data is matched and then just update it, and similarly, when the data is unmatched, it is inserted. One of the most important advantages of MERGE statement is that the entire data are read and processed only once. In earlier versions, three different statements had to be written to process three different activities (INSERT, UPDATE or DELETE); however, by using MERGE statement, all the update activities can be done in one pass of database table. I have written about these Merge Operations earlier in my blog post over here SQL SERVER – 2008 – Introduction to Merge Statement – One Statement for INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE. I was asked by one of the readers that how do we know that this operator was doing everything in single pass and was not calling this Merge Operator multiple times. Let us run the same example which I have used earlier; I am listing the same here again for convenience. --Let’s create Student Details and StudentTotalMarks and inserted some records. USE tempdb GO CREATE TABLE StudentDetails ( StudentID INTEGER PRIMARY KEY, StudentName VARCHAR(15) ) GO INSERT INTO StudentDetails VALUES(1,'SMITH') INSERT INTO StudentDetails VALUES(2,'ALLEN') INSERT INTO StudentDetails VALUES(3,'JONES') INSERT INTO StudentDetails VALUES(4,'MARTIN') INSERT INTO StudentDetails VALUES(5,'JAMES') GO CREATE TABLE StudentTotalMarks ( StudentID INTEGER REFERENCES StudentDetails, StudentMarks INTEGER ) GO INSERT INTO StudentTotalMarks VALUES(1,230) INSERT INTO StudentTotalMarks VALUES(2,255) INSERT INTO StudentTotalMarks VALUES(3,200) GO -- Select from Table SELECT * FROM StudentDetails GO SELECT * FROM StudentTotalMarks GO -- Merge Statement MERGE StudentTotalMarks AS stm USING (SELECT StudentID,StudentName FROM StudentDetails) AS sd ON stm.StudentID = sd.StudentID WHEN MATCHED AND stm.StudentMarks > 250 THEN DELETE WHEN MATCHED THEN UPDATE SET stm.StudentMarks = stm.StudentMarks + 25 WHEN NOT MATCHED THEN INSERT(StudentID,StudentMarks) VALUES(sd.StudentID,25); GO -- Select from Table SELECT * FROM StudentDetails GO SELECT * FROM StudentTotalMarks GO -- Clean up DROP TABLE StudentDetails GO DROP TABLE StudentTotalMarks GO The Merge Join performs very well and the following result is obtained. Let us check the execution plan for the merge operator. You can click on following image to enlarge it. Let us evaluate the execution plan for the Table Merge Operator only. We can clearly see that the Number of Executions property suggests value 1. Which is quite clear that in a single PASS, the Merge Operation completes the operations of Insert, Update and Delete. I strongly suggest you all to use this operation, if possible, in your development. I have seen this operation implemented in many data warehousing applications. Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com) Filed under: Pinal Dave, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Joins, SQL Query, SQL Scripts, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, T SQL, Technology Tagged: Merge

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• My new laptop - with a really nice battery option

  - by Rob Farley

  It was about time I got a new laptop, and so I made a phone-call to Dell to discuss my options. I decided not to get an SSD from them, because I’d rather choose one myself – the sales guy tells me that changing the HD doesn’t void my warranty, so that’s good (incidentally, I’d love to hear people’s recommendations for which SSD to get for my laptop). Unfortunately this machine only has one HD slot, but I figure that I’ll put lots of stuff onto external disks anyway. The machine I got was a Dell Studio XPS 16. It’s red (which suits my company), but also has the Intel® Core™ i7-820QM Processor, which is 4 Cores/8 Threads. Makes for a pretty Task Manager, but nothing like the one I saw at SQLBits last year (at 96 cores), or the one that my good friend James Rowland-Jones writes about here. But the reason for this post is actually something in the software that comes with the machine – you know, the stuff that most people uninstall at the earliest opportunity. I had just reinstalled the operating system, and was going through the utilities to get the drivers up-to-date, when I noticed that one of Dell applications included an option to disable battery charging. So I installed it. And sure enough, I can tell the battery not to charge now. Clearly Dell see it as a temporary option, and one that’s designed for when you’re on a plane. But for me, I most often use my laptop with the power plugged in, which means I don’t need to have my battery continually topping itself up. So I really love this option, but I feel like it could go a little further. I’d like “Not Charging” to be the default option, and let me set it when I want to charge it (which should theoretically make my battery last longer). I also intend to work out how this option works, so that I can script it and put it into my StartUp options (so it can be the Default setting). Actually – if someone has already worked this out and can tell me what it does, then please feel free to let me know. Even better would be an external switch. I had a switch on my old laptop (a Dell Latitude) for WiFi, so that I could turn that off before I turned on the computer (this laptop doesn’t give me that option – no physical switch for flight mode). I guess it just means I’ll get used to leaving the WiFi off by default, and turning it on when I want it – might save myself some battery power that way too. Soon I’ll need to take the plunge and sync my iPhone with the new laptop. I’m a little worried that I might lose something – Apple’s messages about how my stuff will be wiped and replaced with what’s on the PC doesn’t fill me with confidence, as it’s a new PC that doesn’t have stuff on it. But having a new machine is definitely a nice experience, and one that I can recommend. I’m sure when I get around to buying an SSD I’ll feel like it’s shiny and new all over again! Share this post: email it! | bookmark it! | digg it! | reddit! | kick it! | live it!

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• Write TSQL, win a Kindle.

  - by Fatherjack

  So recently Red Gate launched sqlmonitormetrics.red-gate.com and showed the world how to embed your own scripts harmoniously in a third party tool to get the details that you want about your SQL Server performance. The site has a way to submit your own metrics and take a copy of the ones that other people have submitted to build a library of code to keep track of key metrics of your servers performance. There have been several submissions already but they have now launched a competition to provide an incentive for you to get creative and show us what you can do with a bit of TSQL and the SQL Monitor framework*. What’s it worth? Well, if you are one of the 3 winners then you get to choose either a Kindle Fire or $199. How do you win? Simply write the T-SQL for a SQL Monitor custom metric and the relevant description and introduction for it and submit it via  sqlmonitormetrics.red-gate.com before 14th Sept 2012 and then sit back and wait while the judges review your code and your aims in writing the metric. Who are the judges and how will they judge the metrics? There are two judges for this competition, Steve Jones (Microsoft SQL Server MVP, co-founder of SQLServerCentral.com, author, blogger etc) and Jonathan Allen (um, yeah, Steve has done all the good stuff, I’m here by good fortune). We will be looking to rate the metrics on each of 3 criteria: how the metric can help with performance tuning SQL Server. how having the metric running enables DBA’s to meet best practice. how interesting /original the idea for the metric is. Our combined decision will be final etc etc **  What happens to my metric? Any metrics submitted to the competition will be automatically entered into the site library and become available for sharing once the competition is over. You’ll get full credit for metrics you submit regardless of the competition results. You can enter as many metrics as you like. How long does it take? Honestly? Once you have the T-SQL sorted then so long as you can type your name and your email address you are done : http://sqlmonitormetrics.red-gate.com/share-a-metric/ What can I monitor? If you really really want a Kindle or $199 (and let’s face it, who doesn’t? ) and are momentarily stuck for inspiration, take a look at these example custom metrics that have been written by Stuart Ainsworth, Fabiano Amorim, TJay Belt, Louis Davidson, Grant Fritchey, Brad McGehee and me  to start the library off. There are some great pieces of TSQL in those metrics gathering important stats about how SQL Server is performing.   * – framework may not be the best word here but I was under pressure and couldnt think of a better one. If you prefer try ‘engine’, or ‘application’? I don’t know, pick something that makes sense to you. ** – for the full (legal) version of the rules check the details on sqlmonitormetrics.red-gate.com or send us an email if you want any point clarified. Disclaimer – Jonathan is a Friend of Red Gate and as such, whenever they are discussed, will have a generally positive disposition towards Red Gate tools. Other tools are often available and you should always try others before you come back and buy the Red Gate ones. All code in this blog is provided “as is” and no guarantee, warranty or accuracy is applicable or inferred, run the code on a test server and be sure to understand it before you run it on a server that means a lot to you or your manager.

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• The Oracle Retail Week Awards - most exciting awards yet?

  - by sarah.taylor(at)oracle.com

  Last night's annual Oracle Retail Week Awards saw the UK's top retailers come together to celebrate the very best of our industry over the last year.  The Grosvenor House Hotel on Park Lane in London was the setting for an exciting ceremony which this year marked several significant milestones in British - and global - retail.  Check out our videos about the event at our Oracle Retail YouTube channel, and see if you were snapped by our photographer on our Oracle Retail Facebook page. There were some extremely hot contests for many of this year's awards - and all very deserving winners.  The entries have demonstrated beyond doubt that retailers have striven to push their standards up yet again in all areas over the past year.  The judging panel includes some of the most prestigious names in the retail industry - to impress the panel enough to win an award is a substantial achievement.  This year the panel included the likes of Andy Clarke - Chief Executive of ASDA Group; Mark Newton Jones - CEO of Shop Direct Group; Richard Pennycook - the finance director at Morrisons; Rob Templeman - Chief Executive of Debenhams; and Stephen Sunnucks - the president of Gap Europe.  These are retail veterans  who have each helped to shape the British High Street over the last decade.  It was great to chat with many of them in the Oracle VIP area last night.  For me, last night's highlight was honouring both Sir Stuart Rose and Sir Terry Leahy for their contributions to the retail industry.  Both have set the standards in retailing over the last twenty years and taken their respective businesses from strength to strength, demonstrating that there is always a need for innovation even in larger businesses, and that a business has to adapt quickly to new technology in order to stay competitive.  Sir Terry Leahy's retirement this year marks the end of an era of global expansion for the Tesco group and a milestone in the progression of British retail.  Sir Terry has helped steer Tesco through nearly 20 years of change, with 14 years as Chief Executive.  During this time he led the drive for international expansion and an aggressive campaign to increase market share.  He has led the way for High Street retailers in adapting to the rise of internet retailing and nurtured a very successful home delivery service.  More recently he has pioneered the notion of cross-channel retailing with the introduction of Tesco apps for the iPhone and Android mobile phones allowing customers to scan barcodes of items to add to a shopping list which they can then either refer to in store or order for delivery.  John Lewis Partnership was a very deserving winner of The Oracle Retailer of the Year award for their overall dedication to excellent retailing practices.  The business was also named the American Express Marketing/Advertising Campaign of the Year award for their memorable 'Never Knowingly Undersold' advert series, which included a very successful viral video and radio campaign with Fyfe Dangerfield's cover of Billy Joel's 'She's Always a Woman' used for the adverts.  Store Design of the Year was another exciting category with Topshop taking the accolade for its flagship Oxford Street store in London, which combines boutique concession-style stalls with high fashion displays and exclusive collections from leading designers.  The store even has its own hairdressers and food hall, making it a truly all-inclusive fashion retail experience and a global landmark for any self-respecting international fashion shopper. Over the next few weeks we'll be exploring some of the winning entries in more detail here on the blog, so keep an eye out for some unique insights into how the winning retailers have made such remarkable achievements. 

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• Bitmask data insertions in SSDT Post-Deployment scripts

  - by jamiet

  On my current project we are using SQL Server Data Tools (SSDT) to manage our database schema and one of the tasks we need to do often is insert data into that schema once deployed; the typical method employed to do this is to leverage Post-Deployment scripts and that is exactly what we are doing. Our requirement is a little different though, our data is split up into various buckets that we need to selectively deploy on a case-by-case basis. I was going to use a SQLCMD variable for each bucket (defaulted to some value other than “Yes”) to define whether it should be deployed or not so we could use something like this in our Post-Deployment script: IF ($(DeployBucket1Flag) = 'Yes')BEGIN   :r .\Bucket1.data.sqlENDIF ($(DeployBucket2Flag) = 'Yes')BEGIN   :r .\Bucket2.data.sqlENDIF ($(DeployBucket3Flag) = 'Yes')BEGIN   :r .\Bucket3.data.sqlEND That works fine and is, I’m sure, a very common technique for doing this. It is however slightly ugly because we have to litter our deployment with various SQLCMD variables. My colleague James Rowland-Jones (whom I’m sure many of you know) suggested another technique – bitmasks. I won’t go into detail about how this works (James has already done that at Using a Bitmask - a practical example) but I’ll summarise by saying that you can deploy different combinations of the buckets simply by supplying a different numerical value for a single SQLCMD variable. Each bit of that value’s binary representation signifies whether a particular bucket should be deployed or not. This is better demonstrated using the following simple script (which can be easily leveraged inside your Post-Deployment scripts): /* $(DeployData) is a SQLCMD variable that would, if you were using this in SSDT, be declared in the SQLCMD variables section of your project file. It should contain a numerical value, defaulted to 0. In this example I have declared it using a :setvar statement. Test the affect of different values by changing the :setvar statement accordingly. Examples: :setvar DeployData 1 will deploy bucket 1 :setvar DeployData 2 will deploy bucket 2 :setvar DeployData 3   will deploy buckets 1 & 2 :setvar DeployData 6   will deploy buckets 2 & 3 :setvar DeployData 31  will deploy buckets 1, 2, 3, 4 & 5 */ :setvar DeployData 0 DECLARE  @bitmask VARBINARY(MAX) = CONVERT(VARBINARY,$(DeployData)); IF (@bitmask & 1 = 1) BEGIN     PRINT 'Bucket 1 insertions'; END IF (@bitmask & 2 = 2) BEGIN     PRINT 'Bucket 2 insertions'; END IF (@bitmask & 4 = 4) BEGIN     PRINT 'Bucket 3 insertions'; END IF (@bitmask & 8 = 8) BEGIN     PRINT 'Bucket 4 insertions'; END IF (@bitmask & 16 = 16) BEGIN     PRINT 'Bucket 5 insertions'; END An example of running this using DeployData=6 The binary representation of 6 is 110. The second and third significant bits of that binary number are set to 1 and hence buckets 2 and 3 are “activated”. Hope that makes sense and is useful to some of you! @Jamiet P.S. I used the awesome HTML Copy feature of Visual Studio’s Productivity Power Tools in order to format the T-SQL code above for this blog post.

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