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• Best way to store 3 pieces of data as a single entry

  - by Matt

  For a game server, I want to record details when a player makes a kill, store this, and then at intervals update to a sql database. The part i'm interested in right now is the best method of storing the kill information. What i'd like to pass to the sql server on update would be {PlayerName, Kills, Deaths}, where the kills and deaths are a sum for the period between updates. So i'm assuming i'd build a list along the lines of {bob, 1, 0} {frank, 0, 1} {tom, 1, 0} {frank, 0, 1} then on update, consolidate the list to {frank, 14, 3}etc Can someone offer some advice please?

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• Inheritance domain classes in Grails

  - by Tomáš

  Hi gurus how can I get Collection of specific Class? I use inheriance: On Planet live Human. Humans are dividing to Men and Women. class Planet{ String name static hasMany = [ humans : Human ] } class Human{ String name static belongsTo = [Planet] } class Man extends Human{ int countOfCar } class Woman extends Human{ int coutOfChildren } now a neet to get only Collection of Man or Collection of Woman: get all humans on planet is simple all = Planet.get(1).humans but what can I get only woman or men? womenLivedOnMars = Planet.get(1).getOnlyWoman menLivedOnJupiter = Planet.get(2).getOnlyMan Thanks for your help Tom

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• Java interface and abstract class issue

  - by George2

  Hello everyone, I am reading the book -- Hadoop: The Definitive Guide, http://www.amazon.com/Hadoop-Definitive-Guide-Tom-White/dp/0596521979/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1273932107&sr=8-1 In chapter 2 (Page 25), it is mentioned "The new API favors abstract class over interfaces, since these are easier to evolve. For example, you can add a method (with a default implementation) to an abstract class without breaking old implementations of the class". What does it mean (especially what means "breaking old implementations of the class")? Appreciate if anyone could show me a sample why from this perspective abstract class is better than interface? thanks in advance, George

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• correct approach to store in database

  - by John

  I'm developing an online website (using Django and Mysql). I have a Tests table and User table. I have 50 tests within the table and each user completes them at their own pace. How do I store the status of the tests in my DB? One idea that came to my mind is to create an additional column in User table. That column containing testid's separated by comma or any other delimiter. userid | username | testscompleted 1 john 1, 5, 34 2 tom 1, 10, 23, 25 Another idea was to create a seperate table to store userid and testid. So, I'll have only 2 columns but thousands of rows (no of tests * no of users) and they will always continue to increase. userid | testid 1 1 1 5 2 1 1 34 2 10

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• How to prevent autoplay and run my own app when inserting an USB-Flash drive

  - by Thomas

  when inserting an USB-Flash drive, Windows normally opens the Autoplay dialog that offers to browse the drive or if there are multimedia files it offers to choose an app to open them. We developed a media player that is connected to the USB-Drive and registers itself as Mass Storage Device. What I need is, that when inserting the Player that this Dialog is not shown, but instead my own application is launched. Ideally the application would be on the Flash Drive itself, but as I understood is that Autorun is disabled for USB-Drives. It would be enough if a preinstalled application is launched. I already tried to catch the WM_DRIVE_CHANGE message, but this only works if my application is the top most window, otherwise the Autoplay Dialog is displayed. Best Tom

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• How to remove svn folders over FTP on Windows hosting

  - by Loftx

  Hi there, I've accidentally copied a large part of a folder tree from my SVN working copy to my shared Windows web host via FTP. The site is now littered with .svn directories and and I need some way of cleaning them. The only access I have to the server is via FTP, or by running a script on the server. Does any one have a script which can be run remotely to remove the files over FTP from my development machine (any language Windows/Linux is fine) or a script in ASP, ASP.net or PHP I can run directly on the Windows server to remove these directories? Thanks, Tom

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• Algorithm to match natural text in mail

  - by snøreven

  I need to separate natural, coherent text/sentences in emails from lists, signatures, greetings and so on before further processing. example: Hi tom, last monday we did bla bla, lore Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisici elit, sed eiusmod tempor incidunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. list item 2 list item 3 list item 3 Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquid x ea commodi consequat. Quis aute iure reprehenderit in voluptate velit regards, K. ---line-of-funny-characters-####### example inc. 33 evil street, london mobile: 00 234534/234345 Ideally the algorithm would match only the bold parts. Is there any recommended approach - or are there even existing algorithms for that problem? Should I try approximate regular expressions or more statistical stuff based on number of punctation marks, length and so on?

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• php / mysql - select id from one table excepting ids which are in second table

  - by John

  hello. for example i have 2 tables: 1 . users: id Name 1 Mike 2 Adam 3 Tom 4 John 5 Andy 6 Ray 2 . visits: userID date 1 ... 3 ... 6 ... i want to make a page which can be visited once in 12 hours, when user visits that page his id is included in database ( visits ), how i can select all users ( from database users) excepting users who visited page in <= 12 hours ( users from database visits )?

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• two php arrays - sort one array with the value order of another

  - by Tisch

  Hi there, I have two PHP arrays like so: Array of X records containing the ID of Wordpress posts (in a particular order) Array of Wordpress posts The two arrays look something like this: Array One (Sorted Custom Array of Wordpress Post IDs) Array ( [0] => 54 [1] => 10 [2] => 4 ) Array Two (Wordpress Post Array) Array ( [0] => stdClass Object ( [ID] => 4 [post_author] => 1 ) [1] => stdClass Object ( [ID] => 54 [post_author] => 1 ) [2] => stdClass Object ( [ID] => 10 [post_author] => 1 ) ) I would like to sort the array of wordpress posts with the order of the ID's in the first array. I hope this makes sense, and thanks in advance of any help. Tom edit: The server is running PHP Version 5.2.14

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• How do I replace NOT EXISTS with JOIN?

  - by YelizavetaYR

  I've got the following query: select distinct a.id, a.name from Employee a join Dependencies b on a.id = b.eid where not exists ( select * from Dependencies d where b.id = d.id and d.name = 'Apple' ) and exists ( select * from Dependencies c where b.id = c.id and c.name = 'Orange' ); I have two tables, relatively simple. The first Employee has an id column and a name column The second table Dependencies has 3 column, an id, an eid (employee id to link) and names (apple, orange etc). the data looks like this Employee table looks like this id | name ----------- 1 | Pat 2 | Tom 3 | Rob 4 | Sam Dependencies id | eid | Name -------------------- 1 | 1 | Orange 2 | 1 | Apple 3 | 2 | Strawberry 4 | 2 | Apple 5 | 3 | Orange 6 | 3 | Banana As you can see Pat has both Orange and Apple and he needs to be excluded and it has to be via joins and i can't seem to get it to work. Ultimately the data should only return Rob

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• 2 Select or 1 Join query ?

  - by xRobot

  I have 2 tables: book ( id, title, age ) ---- 100 milions of rows author ( id, book_id, name, born ) ---- 10 millions of rows Now, supposing I have a generic id of a book. I need to print this page: Title: mybook authors: Tom, Graham, Luis, Clarke, George So... what is the best way to do this ? 1) Simple join like this: Select book.title, author.name From book, author WHERE ( author.book_id = book.id ) AND ( book.id = 342 ) 2) For avoid the join, I could make 2 simple query: Select title FROM book WHERE id = 342 Select name FROM author WHERE book_id = 342 What is the most efficient way ?

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• Which is quicker? Memcache or file query? (using maxmind geoip.dat file)

  - by tomcritchlow

  Hi, I'm using Python on Appengine and am looking up the geolocation of an IP address like this: import pygeoip gi = pygeoip.GeoIP('GeoIP.dat') Location = gi.country_code_by_addr(self.request.remote_addr) (pygeoip can be found here: http://code.google.com/p/pygeoip/) I want to geolocate each page of my app for a user so currently I lookup the IP address once then store it in memcache. My question - which is quicker? Looking up the IP address each time from the .dat file or fetching it from memcache? Are there any other pros/cons I need to be aware of? For general queries like this, is there a good guide to teach me how to optimise my code and run speed tests myself? I'm new to python and coding in general so apologies if this is a basic concept. Thanks! Tom

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• scroll bar in textareas

  - by Hulk

  Int the following code, The scroll bar appears in IE and in mozilla it doesnt,how is this to be fixed,scroll bar should not appear where there is not much of data. <script> var row= '<table><tr>'; row = '<tr class="display_row"">'; row += '<td class="display_col" wrap width="75"><b><textarea rows = "8" cols = "18" border ="1" class="input" style="border: none;overflow:visible;width:95%;" readonly maxlength="5">Name selected is Tom </textarea>'; row+='</td></tr></table>'; </script>

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• Why border of <th> not showing here?

  - by metal-gear-solid

  How to give style to <thead> only, not to <th>? Why border of th not showing http://jsfiddle.net/r8mA7/ <table> <thead style="border-top:10px solid red; background:yellow"> <tr><th style="border-top:10px solid green">Name</th></tr> </thead> <tbody> <tr><td>Bob</td></tr> <tr><td>Tom</td></tr> </tbody> </table>

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• HOw to find specific child node in XML using AS3 flash

  - by Mirage

  I have this xml var testXML:XML = <family> <father name1="tom" age="5" ><father1 name1="test1"/><father2 name1="test2"/></father> <mother name1="tomylee" age="55" ><mother1/><mother2/></mother> <sister name1="sister1" age="35" ><sister1/><sister2/></sister> </family>; I want to get the child node with name1 = test1 but i only know family so is there something like trace (testXML.children(@name1="test1"); I only know the family node , i don't know where that node is inside the father or not is there any filter can be applied on root node to find something

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• JavaScript, transform object into array

  - by Šime Vidas

  I've got an object: var obj = { "Mike": 24, "Peter": 23, "Simon": 33, "Tom": 12, "Frank": 31 }; I want to create an array that holds the values of the object. The keys (key names) can be disregarded: [24, 23, 33, 12, 31] The order of the values is NOT important! One solution (obviously) would be do have a function that takes the values and puts them into an array: var arr = valuesToArray(obj); I will accept such a function as the answer. However, I would be more pleased if there would be an API function (ECMAScript, jQuery, browser-specific, ...) that could do this. Is there such a thing?

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• Creating a 2d matrix from an array (java)

  - by anna

  I'm supposed to write a method that creates a 2d matrix from an array, for instance: ({1, 2, 3, 4}, 3) should return the matrix {{1, 2, 3}, {4}} public class Matrix { public static int[][]toM(int[] array, int a) { int[][]matrix = new int [(array.length + a- 1)/ a][a]; for (int i = 0; i < array.length; i++){ int value = array[i]; value = value++; for (int row = 0; row < (array.length + a- 1)/a; row++) { for (int col = 0; col < a; col++) { matrix[row][col]= value++; } } } return matrix; } } I'm getting [[4, 5, 6], [7, 8, 9]]?

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• c++ - QListWidget

  - by user1889459

  I created a working QListWidget with multiple items, but I can't figure out how to make it user-friendly. It looks like this: 1000 1001 1002 ... But I want it to look like this, where firt 4 numbers have a meaning, while all the rest info is just for user. 1000 Name LastName and some other helpful info 1001 tom jeff smallville 1002 ming vase, 1992 ... For example, this line fotoId = ui->devices->currentItem()->text().toInt(); should give me same result in both cases.

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• JSONP parsing error from WCF

  - by user1754730

  Answered my own question I had a problem with a jquery (jsonp) call to a WCF service that was throwing a json parsing error. Using ASP.NET 4.0 on the WCF side and jquery 1.7 on the client side. Turned out there was an old set of script tags on the page using language = VBSCRIPT. The browser was interpreting the returned json packet of script as "VBscript" instead of javascript. I placed a set of empty javascript tags at the top of the page and the browser is now interpreting the json as the proper javascript function. Hope this helps someone else. Tom

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• Can I Use EF Across Multiple DBs in One SQLServer Instance?

  - by thomashubschman

  Hello, I have been searching the blogs and articles but I have not found much support for this scenario. I have been poking around EF and realized that I could create views that contained data from multiple databases and then build the EF object model off of those views. Although it works I am not sure about the usual issues of performance, scalability, maintainability. The way I am achieving the connection between databases is by creating associations in the EF model. Does anyone have any information about this type of implementation? Either another solution or commentary on this proposed solution? Thanks, Tom

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• Polymorphic behavior not being implemented

  - by Garrett A. Hughes

  The last two lines of this code illustrate the problem: the compiler works when I use the reference to the object, but not when I assign the reference to an array element. The rest of the code is in the same package in separate files. BioStudent and ChemStudent are separate classes, as well as Student. package pkgPoly; public class Poly { public static void main(String[] arg) { Student[] stud = new Student[3]; // create a biology student BioStudent s1 = new BioStudent("Tom"); // create a chemistry student ChemStudent s2 = new ChemStudent("Dick"); // fill the student body with studs stud[0] = s0; stud[1] = s1; // compiler complains that it can't find symbol getMajor on next line System.out.println("major: " + stud[0].getMajor() ); // doesn't compile; System.out.println("major: " + s0.getMajor() ); // works: compiles and runs correctly } }

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• SQL SERVER – Best Reference – Wait Type – Day 27 of 28

  - by pinaldave

  I have great learning experience to write my article series on Extended Event. This was truly learning experience where I have learned way more than I would have learned otherwise. Besides my blog series there was excellent quality reference available on internet which one can use to learn this subject further. Here is the list of resources (in no particular order): sys.dm_os_wait_stats (Book OnLine) – This is excellent beginning point and official documentations on the wait types description. SQL Server Best Practices Article by Tom Davidson – I think this document goes without saying the BEST reference available on this subject. Performance Tuning with Wait Statistics by Joe Sack – One of the best slide deck available on this subject. It covers many real world scenarios. Wait statistics, or please tell me where it hurts by Paul Randal – Notes from real world from SQL Server Skilled Master Paul Randal. The SQL Server Wait Type Repository… by Bob Ward – A thorough article on wait types and its resolution. A MUST read. Tracking Session and Statement Level Waits by by Jonathan Kehayias – A unique article on the subject where wait stats and extended events are together. Wait Stats Introductory References By Jimmy May – Excellent collection of the reference links. Great Resource On SQL Server Wait Types by Glenn Berry – A perfect DMV to find top wait stats. Performance Blog by Idera – In depth article on top of the wait statistics in community. I have listed all the reference I have found in no particular order. If I have missed any good reference, please leave a comment and I will add the reference in the list. Read all the post in the Wait Types and Queue series. Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com) Tracking Session and Statement Level Waits Filed under: Pinal Dave, PostADay, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Query, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, SQL Wait Stats, SQL Wait Types, T SQL, Technology

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• A Guided Tour of Complexity

  - by JoshReuben

  I just re-read Complexity – A Guided Tour by Melanie Mitchell , protégé of Douglas Hofstadter ( author of “Gödel, Escher, Bach”) http://www.amazon.com/Complexity-Guided-Tour-Melanie-Mitchell/dp/0199798109/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1339744329&sr=8-1 here are some notes and links:   Evolved from Cybernetics, General Systems Theory, Synergetics some interesting transdisciplinary fields to investigate: Chaos Theory - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaos_theory – small differences in initial conditions (such as those due to rounding errors in numerical computation) yield widely diverging outcomes for chaotic systems, rendering long-term prediction impossible. System Dynamics / Cybernetics - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/System_Dynamics – study of how feedback changes system behavior Network Theory - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_theory – leverage Graph Theory to analyze symmetric  / asymmetric relations between discrete objects Algebraic Topology - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algebraic_topology – leverage abstract algebra to analyze topological spaces There are limits to deterministic systems & to computation. Chaos Theory definitely applies to training an ANN (artificial neural network) – different weights will emerge depending upon the random selection of the training set. In recursive Non-Linear systems http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nonlinear_system – output is not directly inferable from input. E.g. a Logistic map: Xt+1 = R Xt(1-Xt) Different types of bifurcations, attractor states and oscillations may occur – e.g. a Lorenz Attractor http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lorenz_system Feigenbaum Constants http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feigenbaum_constants express ratios in a bifurcation diagram for a non-linear map – the convergent limit of R (the rate of period-doubling bifurcations) is 4.6692016 Maxwell’s Demon - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maxwell%27s_demon - the Second Law of Thermodynamics has only a statistical certainty – the universe (and thus information) tends towards entropy. While any computation can theoretically be done without expending energy, with finite memory, the act of erasing memory is permanent and increases entropy. Life & thought is a counter-example to the universe’s tendency towards entropy. Leo Szilard and later Claude Shannon came up with the Information Theory of Entropy - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entropy_(information_theory) whereby Shannon entropy quantifies the expected value of a message’s information in bits in order to determine channel capacity and leverage Coding Theory (compression analysis). Ludwig Boltzmann came up with Statistical Mechanics - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statistical_mechanics – whereby our Newtonian perception of continuous reality is a probabilistic and statistical aggregate of many discrete quantum microstates. This is relevant for Quantum Information Theory http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_information and the Physics of Information - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physical_information. Hilbert’s Problems http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hilbert's_problems pondered whether mathematics is complete, consistent, and decidable (the Decision Problem – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entscheidungsproblem – is there always an algorithm that can determine whether a statement is true).  Godel’s Incompleteness Theorems http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%B6del's_incompleteness_theorems  proved that mathematics cannot be both complete and consistent (e.g. “This statement is not provable”). Turing through the use of Turing Machines (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turing_machine symbol processors that can prove mathematical statements) and Universal Turing Machines (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Turing_machine Turing Machines that can emulate other any Turing Machine via accepting programs as well as data as input symbols) that computation is limited by demonstrating the Halting Problem http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halting_problem (is is not possible to know when a program will complete – you cannot build an infinite loop detector). You may be used to thinking of 1 / 2 / 3 dimensional systems, but Fractal http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fractal systems are defined by self-similarity & have non-integer Hausdorff Dimensions !!!  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fractals_by_Hausdorff_dimension – the fractal dimension quantifies the number of copies of a self similar object at each level of detail – eg Koch Snowflake - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koch_snowflake Definitions of complexity: size, Shannon entropy, Algorithmic Information Content (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algorithmic_information_theory - size of shortest program that can generate a description of an object) Logical depth (amount of info processed), thermodynamic depth (resources required). Complexity is statistical and fractal. John Von Neumann’s other machine was the Self-Reproducing Automaton http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-replicating_machine  . Cellular Automata http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cellular_automaton are alternative form of Universal Turing machine to traditional Von Neumann machines where grid cells are locally synchronized with their neighbors according to a rule. Conway’s Game of Life http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conway's_Game_of_Life demonstrates various emergent constructs such as “Glider Guns” and “Spaceships”. Cellular Automatons are not practical because logical ops require a large number of cells – wasteful & inefficient. There are no compilers or general program languages available for Cellular Automatons (as far as I am aware). Random Boolean Networks http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boolean_network are extensions of cellular automata where nodes are connected at random (not to spatial neighbors) and each node has its own rule –> they demonstrate the emergence of complex  & self organized behavior. Stephen Wolfram’s (creator of Mathematica, so give him the benefit of the doubt) New Kind of Science http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_New_Kind_of_Science proposes the universe may be a discrete Finite State Automata http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finite-state_machine whereby reality emerges from simple rules. I am 2/3 through this book. It is feasible that the universe is quantum discrete at the plank scale and that it computes itself – Digital Physics: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_physics – a simulated reality? Anyway, all behavior is supposedly derived from simple algorithmic rules & falls into 4 patterns: uniform , nested / cyclical, random (Rule 30 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rule_30) & mixed (Rule 110 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rule_110 localized structures – it is this that is interesting). interaction between colliding propagating signal inputs is then information processing. Wolfram proposes the Principle of Computational Equivalence - http://mathworld.wolfram.com/PrincipleofComputationalEquivalence.html - all processes that are not obviously simple can be viewed as computations of equivalent sophistication. Meaning in information may emerge from analogy & conceptual slippages – see the CopyCat program: http://cognitrn.psych.indiana.edu/rgoldsto/courses/concepts/copycat.pdf Scale Free Networks http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scale-free_network have a distribution governed by a Power Law (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_law - much more common than Normal Distribution). They are characterized by hubs (resilience to random deletion of nodes), heterogeneity of degree values, self similarity, & small world structure. They grow via preferential attachment http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preferential_attachment – tipping points triggered by positive feedback loops. 2 theories of cascading system failures in complex systems are Self-Organized Criticality http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-organized_criticality and Highly Optimized Tolerance http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Highly_optimized_tolerance. Computational Mechanics http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computational_mechanics – use of computational methods to study phenomena governed by the principles of mechanics. This book is a great intuition pump, but does not cover the more mathematical subject of Computational Complexity Theory – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computational_complexity_theory I am currently reading this book on this subject: http://www.amazon.com/Computational-Complexity-Christos-H-Papadimitriou/dp/0201530821/ref=pd_sim_b_1   stay tuned for that review!

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• The 2010 Life Insurance Conference - Washington, DC

  - by [email protected]

  How ironic to be in Washington, DC on April 15 - TAX DAY! Fortunately, I avoided IRS offices and attended the much more enjoyable 2010 Life Insurance Conference, presented by LIMRA, LOMA SOA and ACLI. This year's conference offered a variety of tracks focused on the Life Industry including Distribution/Marketing Marketing, Administration, Actuarial/Product Development, Regulatory, Reinsurance and Strategic Management. President and CEO of the ACLI, Frank Keating, opened the event by moderating a session titled "Executive Viewpoint on new Opportunities." Guest speakers included Ted Mathas, President and CEO of NY Life, and John Walters, President and CEO of Hartford Life. Both speakers were insightful as they shared the challenges and opportunities each company faces and the key role life insurance companies play in our society and the global economy. There were several key themes that were reiterated in multiple sessions throughout the conference - the economy is on the rebound, optimism is growing, consumer spending is up and an uptick in employment is likely to follow. The threat of a double dip recession has seemed to passed. Good news for our industry, and welcomed by all in attendance. Of special interest to me, given my background, was some research shared by both The Nolan Group and Novarica in separate sessions. Both firms indicate that policy administration upgrades/replacement projects remain a top priority in 2010. Carriers continue to invest in modern technology. Modern ultra-configurable systems enable carriers to switch from a waterfall to an agile project methodology, which often entails a "culture change" within an organization. Other themes heard throughout the two-day event: Virtually all sessions focused on People, Process and Technology! Product innovation, agility and speed to market are as important as ever. Social Networks and Twitter are becoming more popular ways of communicating with both field and dispersed staff. Several sessions focused on the application, new business and underwriting process. Companies continue looking for ways to increase market agility, accelerate speed to market, address cost issues and improve service levels across the process. They recognize the need to ease the way to do business with both producers and consumers. Author and economic futurist Jeff Thredgold presented an entertaining, informative and humorous general session on Wednesday afternoon that focused on the US and global economies, financial markets and retirement outlook. Thredgold did not disappoint anyone with his message! The Thursday morning general session was keynoted by Therese Vaughan (CEO - NAIC) and Thomas Crawford (President of C2 Group). Both speakers gave a poignant view of the recent financial crisis and discussed "Putting the Pieces Back Together." Therese spoke of the recent financial turmoil and likely changes to regulations to the financial services sector. Tom's topics focused on economic recovery and the political environment in Washington, and how that impacts our industry. Next year's event will be April 11-13, 2011 in Las Vegas. Roger A.Soppe, CLU, LUTCF, is the Senior Director of Insurance Strategy, Oracle Insurance.

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• IT Admin for Thrill Seekers

  - by Tony Davis

  A developer suggested to me recently that the life of the DBA was, surely, a dull one. My first reaction was indignation, but quickly followed by the thought that for many people excitement isn't necessarily the most desirable aspect of their job. It's true that some aspects of the DBA role seem guaranteed to quieten the pulse; in the days of tape backups, time must have slowed to eternity for the person whose job it was to oversee this process, placing tapes into secure containers, ensuring correct labeling, and.sorry, I drifted off there for a second. On the other hand, if you follow the adventures of the likes of Brent Ozar or Tom LaRock, you'd be forgiven for thinking that much of a database guy's time is spent, metaphorically, diving through plate glass windows in tight fitting underwear in order to extract grateful occupants from burning database applications. Alas it isn't true of the majority, but it isn't as dull as some people imagine, and is a helter-skelter ride compared with some other IT roles. Every IT department has people who toil away in shadowy corners doing quiet but mysterious tasks. When you ask them to explain what they do, you almost immediately want them to stop, but you hear enough to appreciate that these tasks are often absolutely vital to the smooth functioning of an IT organization. Compared with them, the DBAs are prima donnas. Here are a few nominations: Installation engineer - install all of the company's laptops and workstations, and software, deal with licensing, shipping and data entry.many organizations, especially those subject to tight regulation, would simply grind to a halt without their efforts. Localization engineer - Not quite software engineering, not quite translation, the job is to rebuild a product in a different language and make sure everything still works. QA Tester - firstly, I should say that the testers at Red Gate seem to me some of the most-fulfilled in the company. I refer here to the QA Tester whose job is more-or-less entirely to read a script, click some buttons and make sure the actual and expected values match. Configuration manager - for example, someone whose main job is to configure build environments so that devs can access their source code; assuredly necessary for the smooth functioning and productivity of the team, and hopefully well-paid. So what other sort of job in IT should one choose if the work of a DBA proves to be too exciting? Or are these roles secretly more exciting than many imagine? I invite you all to put forward your own suggestions. Cheers, Tony.

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