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External Article

The value of experienced coders

I was about 40 the first time I was told I should not continue coding. A well-meaning vice president at my company pulled me aside at a party and told me that I was getting too old to code. He had been a coder himself, knew that he was getting too old, and moved over to sales. He was sure that I should be moving over to another part of the business. I told him that perhaps not only did he have a problem coding when he reached 40, he probably had the same problem at 38. I said that I was perfectly happy as a coder, and had every intention of continuing as long as someone was willing to pay me.

2005-03-15

3,434 reads

Technical Article

Automatically Utilizing XML's Untapped Semantic Goldmine

A mind is a terrible thing to waste and so is the vast quantity of untapped data structure meta information available free for the using in any XML document. This semantic data available in XML is like gold lying on the ground ready to be scooped up and cashed in with little or no effort. This is meta information that can be utilized immediately to significantly increase the value of the raw XML data. By automatically utilizing this valuable structure meta information, hierarchical fourth generation languages (4GLs) can nonprocedurally process XML's complex multi-leg hierarchical structure. This significantly increases the usefulness of the data and makes it immediately available for use at its enhanced value. This article describes the semantics of hierarchical data structures and how they can be automatically utilized by 4GLs.

2005-03-14

1,424 reads

Technical Article

Generate SQL Automatically Without Compromising Quality

Most database developers dread including such navigation features as paginated reports, hierarchical navigation, filtering, and full-text search because the amount of time they take to develop is not proportional to the utility or interest they create. In addition, connecting individual pages and controls to the database is mind-numbing work. Since writing SQL is non-trivial in any circumstance, it typically requires a specialist DBA's involvement.
..... As Web-based applications proliferate to bring more functionality directly to end-users, writing every SQL statement for every web-based application in your shop is likely to become a never-ending Sisyphean task for your DBA.

2005-03-10

2,209 reads

Technical Article

Using the Table Data Type in SQL Server 2000

Performing routine database maintenance such as reindexing is important for keeping your databases running at peak performance. When you use INSERT, UPDATE, and DELETE statements to modify table data, indexes can become fragmented. Index fragmentation can happen when the logical sequence of pages is disrupted or when an index page contains less than its maximum amount of data, creating a gap in the data page or index. As indexes become fragmented, you get inefficient data reads when accessing tables and slower database performance.

2005-03-10

3,919 reads

External Article

SQL Server 2005 Security - Part 3 Encryption

After discussing authentication and authorization behavior of SQL Server 2005 Beta 2 in the previous two articles of this series, it is time to look into other security-related changes. In particular, we will focus on the freshly introduced native database encryption capabilities. While some encryption functionality existed in the previous versions (e.g. involving column encryption APIs within User Defined Functions or PWDENCRYPT password one-way hash function), it was relatively limited and rarely used. SQL Server 2005 provides significant improvements in this area.

2005-03-09

3,566 reads

External Article

COM Without Registration

When .NET first appeared it wasn't unusual to hear the question "Is COM dead?" In fact COM seems to be alive and well, and in this article I'll look at the way that Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 allow you to use COM in a side-by-side way without installing the usual registration entries – you won't need to use the Windows Registry to use side-by-side COM components.

2005-03-08

1,348 reads

External Article

SQL Server 2005 Security - Part 2 Authorization

Following the discussion of new or enhanced authentication-related functionality in SQL Server 2005 Beta 2 in our previous article, we are shifting our focus to authorization features, which determine the level of access rights once the user's logon process is successfully completed. Among topics that will be covered here, are separation of user and schema, modifiable context of module execution, increased permission granularity, and improved catalog security.

2005-03-08

3,832 reads

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Question of the Day

What is Page Density

In SQL Server, there is a concept of page density. This is determined by how much data is stored on each page. What is a page density of 90%?

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