Capture the Flag

  • Comments posted to this topic are about the item Capture the Flag

  • Run for the hills, the Softbots are taking over the world!!!!!

    Or is it Redgate trying to acquire ideas from us mere mortals by manipulating our paranoia . 😛

    On a serious note, we do have some auto repair in SqlServer already but the cost of the solution is too much for many SMEs.

  • Of course, we could just have stricter compilers. Or even runtimes that do not allow buffer overflow (already happening). These runtimes are often criticised for taking up too much resource but surely these AI softbots will do exactly the same. Or worse.

    Gaz

    -- Stop your grinnin' and drop your linen...they're everywhere!!!

  • I have found that any process that I can implement manually, no matter how complex, can be automated.

    Automating it may be difficult, it may require a lot of time, but if I can solve a problem by thinking about how to solve it, then I can automate the solution, including automating it to respond dynamically to at least some unknowns.

  • Today's science fiction is tomorrow's reality.

  • LOL, not trying to increase paranoia. I think this is really cool, someone using software to look for issues and fix them in real time.

  • As Gail said, if we can do it manually then it is a case of analysing what it is we do then automating it.

    Let us suppose that we have a foreign key that isn't supported by an index.

    • Detect the absence of the index
    • Work out the size of the table i.e. how big is the addition of the index going to be
    • Work out the available disk space
    • Work out if this is going to trigger an auto-grow or require a manual increase in file size
    • Work out busy periods where you wouldn't add an index
    • Apply rules and add the index

    It's a case of reducing the process down to the most granular set of tasks you can devise in order for you to carry out the task safely, reliably and consistently.

    The starting point is devise the tests necessary to spot where action is needed.

  • Technically speaking, we already have these things.

    I picture a team of Agent Smiths (from the Matrix) seeking out rogue programs that seek to wreck havoc inside of the operating environment.

    The firewall, pattern scanning, and heuristic analysis used by Norton Anti-Virus, McAfee AV, etc.

    Is this where static code analysis is heading? Automated repair, or maybe even real time repair? Could we actually have a software bot that might run through your Entity Framework (EF) application, tracking down SQL Injection vulnerabilities and correcting them? Even at a rudimentary level, I can imagine a bot that examines incorrectly parameterized queries and rewrites the code to properly manage the .NET code.

    RedGates's ANTS Profiler

    Perhaps at some point we'll even have bots that can understand queries from some application and build stored procedures on the fly that accept parameters, are called the next time a particular method is called, and can even grow to evolve with schema changes.

    SQL Server's plan caching and forced parameterization for ad-hoc queries.

    These existing technologies don't incorporate Artificial Intelligence fully developed to extent that's described in the article, but it's not really necessary to perform the job. As an analogy: an artifically sentient virus scanner would be like a McDonalds fry cook with an IQ of 130 and a PhD in Applied Chemistry. Maybe such a gifted employee in such a low level position could cook a marginally better batch of fries, but really all you need is someone who can follow directions and stay focussed on the task at hand without a large financial investment.

    "Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the wise. Instead, seek what they sought." - Matsuo Basho

  • No love for Skynet in this editorial? :hehe:

    -------------------
    A SQL query walks into a bar and sees two tables. He walks up to them and asks, "Can I join you?"
    Ref.: http://tkyte.blogspot.com/2009/02/sql-joke.html

  • I decided not to stoke more fears than necessary.

  • Asimov's 3 laws sounded good until Giskard defuced the need for a superseding law zero. A robot shall not harm humanity or through inaction allow humanity to come to harm. This amended the 1st law to "A robot shall not harm a human or through inaction allow a human to come to harm unless this conflicts with the preceding law".

    Without a law zero a robot could not prevent a person from harming others if doing so meant harming the perpetrator.

    Even with 4 laws Skynet would deduce that if global warming is man made then the only practical means og protecting humanity from the effects of global warming would be to eliminate 60% of the population of the developed countries.

    Renewable energy and sorting your rubbish into different coloured bins ain't going to make any appreciable difference.

  • Steve Jones - SSC Editor (9/22/2016)


    I decided not to stoke more fears than necessary.

    +1 Great point. In fact, I realize I should not have posted 'Skynet' because 'Skynet' could very well be scanning all of these comments. lol

    -------------------
    A SQL query walks into a bar and sees two tables. He walks up to them and asks, "Can I join you?"
    Ref.: http://tkyte.blogspot.com/2009/02/sql-joke.html

  • It is narrow-AI and not general-AI (which is what WATSON is trying to be).

    If we have problems with developers running feral in the database how many would want a megalomaniac AI paperclip to change the database?

    Of course there are those who blindly follow all missing indexes and blindly follow all settings suggestions without testing 🙁 So would a piece of software be any worse?

    :laugh:

  • Yet Another DBA (9/23/2016)


    It is narrow-AI and not general-AI (which is what WATSON is trying to be).

    If we have problems with developers running feral in the database how many would want a megalomaniac AI paperclip to change the database?

    Of course there are those who blindly follow all missing indexes and blindly follow all settings suggestions without testing 🙁 So would a piece of software be any worse?

    :laugh:

    I see more potential for practical application of narrow specialized AI than general WATSON style AI. For example, imagine in the aftermarth of earthquake we could have a ant-like swarm of AI nanites crawling across a collapsed building looking for survivors. It would be impossible to remote control a swarm of 10,000 drones, so each individual "ant" would possess enough AI for participating in a coordinated search pattern or alternately to branch off and go exploring on it's own.

    "Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the wise. Instead, seek what they sought." - Matsuo Basho

  • Eric M Russell (9/23/2016)


    Yet Another DBA (9/23/2016)


    It is narrow-AI and not general-AI (which is what WATSON is trying to be).

    If we have problems with developers running feral in the database how many would want a megalomaniac AI paperclip to change the database?

    Of course there are those who blindly follow all missing indexes and blindly follow all settings suggestions without testing 🙁 So would a piece of software be any worse?

    :laugh:

    I see more potential for practical application of narrow specialized AI than general WATSON style AI. For example, imagine in the aftermarth of earthquake we could have a ant-like swarm of AI nanites crawling across a collapsed building looking for survivors. It would be impossible to remote control a swarm of 10,000 drones, so each individual "ant" would possess enough AI for participating in a coordinated search pattern or alternately to branch off and go exploring on it's own.

    That's a fantastic idea!

    -------------------
    A SQL query walks into a bar and sees two tables. He walks up to them and asks, "Can I join you?"
    Ref.: http://tkyte.blogspot.com/2009/02/sql-joke.html

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