Regular Columnist: Phil Factor

A disconnected model is only really needed in the absence of a properly-defined database interface. We, as developers, create a rod for our own backs by insisting on treating a database in a way we wouldn't treat an object, let alone an assembly or namespace.   Read more...

If only the English language had a range of words to describe all the different types of database, there would be so much less confusion in the industry.  Read more...

In SQL Server, we treat XML with a reverence that is disproportionate to its importance. The SQL Server team have indeed gone big on XML, as Michael Cole’s book reveals. The industry has gone big in another direction: JSON.  Read more...

It always surprises me when Application programmers tell me that all 'Agile' techniques are directly applicable to database development. Ideally, yes; but reality gets in the way.  Read more...

In which Phil Factor argues that Domain Constraints are a fundamental part of the relational database. If he had to sacrifice a feature of relational databases, it wouldn’t be domain constraints.  Read more...

Today we have a guest editorial from Phil Factor. Phil wonders why so many people in technology can be stubborn. Are you a stubborn DBA?  Read more...

Today we have a guest editorial from Phil Factor as Steve is on vacation. This piece looks at the complaints against GOTO and whether they are valid.  Read more...

SMO is a very useful way of automating a wide range of routine database jobs, but Phil Factor laments Microsoft's apparent ambivalence towards the technology, including a lack of anything remotely resembling adequate documentation.  Read more...

For anyone eager for a long-term career in IT Development, humility and tact are probably more important habits to acquire than demon coding-skills. Phil Factor explains why.  Read more...

Write what you choose to when the reader can, in turn, choose not to read your work; but when you are writing about Technology, you have a captive audience. They need to read your work to keep abreast of the technology. Don't gratuitously offend them. It is not the action of a gentleman, D____it!  Read more...

Phil Factor reflects on Microsoft's "handbrake turn" on OLE DB; Denali's successor will have to have all this plumbing ripped out to replace it with the older ODBC technology. It's a surprising move but makes a lot of sense, given the ubiquity of ODBC drivers for relational data access.  Read more...

Do Agile IT projects have anything to learn from the organizational structures and laws used by pirates? Phil Factor is not convinced.  Read more...

Can one generalize from agile techniques of application testing to database testing. Phil isn't entirely convinced that it can do any more that remove the distracting trivial bugs in order to allow testers to concentrate on the important issues  Read more...

Phil Factor speculates on the damage caused to Cloud providers by the Amazon and Sony Outages.  Read more...

Guest editorial by Phil who bemoans the difficulty of transferring tabular data by file between differing databases, spreadsheets and analysis tools.  Read more...

Phil Fator, the self-confessed wild man of T-SQL, finally comes clean: he's a secret PowerShell user. But for the DBA, what is PowerShell without SMO? Is Microsoft giving the latter the care and attention it needs?  Read more...

Even though neither the science nor politics of climate change is fully established yet, the legislators and bureaucrats have smelt an opportunity to further tighten their grip on IT. A sign of things to come is the EU’s Code of Conduct for Data Centers on Energy Efficiency.   Read more...

Phil points out that the SQL Server community has a role to play in making sure that the wisdom of SQL Server Pundits is regularly tested and challenged.  Read more...

Phil Factor finds much to admire in Microsoft's new Orchard application but is frustrated by a design decision that seems to limit its use to low-volume applications, with less stringent security requirements.   Read more...

Phil Factor less-than-fond memories of the days of the One True Source Script. However, despite recent advances, he wonders just how much smoother team-based database development really is.  Read more...