XML – The End Today I am going to wrap up my little excursion into the utilization of XML as a data type and data storage. Let me start out by saying that unstructured XML is a great tool for data mining. When it comes to data mining, the problem domain is often not clearly known, and yet the contents […]

I’m Thankful for You SSWUG is an USA based company with a worldwide audience. Recently I celebrated the USA tradition of a thanksgiving holiday. Many cultures have a similar tradition; in my home we use this time to be thankful for the many blessings we have received the previous year. This year, I wish to thank you for being gracious […]

Replace Stored Procedure Parameters with a Single XML Parameter – BAD! I had a couple readers write in with a question specific to passing XML to a stored procedure…and item I briefly mentioned in the Editorial earlier this week. Maurice I was eagerly waiting the comments you had on the negative impact of passing to stored proc. many parameters using […]

Is XML Best Unstructured? While XML can be used in an unstructured form I don’t believe it was simply intended to be an HTTP acceptable form of serialization. I believe I misrepresented XML yesterday tightly associating it with SOAP as a mechanism for communicating and transferring data. It can do that, but that was more of an implementation of what […]

XML Abused Maleable software is the ultimate, yet unreachable goal for software solutions. We want to write software that is efficient and works according to requirements, yet accommodates change readily. Computers don’t do that well. Computer software doesn’t do it much better. One key technique to making software more extensible is to allow the software to be able to change […]

What Am I? I really appreciated what Stephen was asking in our last edition of the SSWUG Newsletter when he raised the question “What do we call ourselves?” His referencing the same phenomenon I entitled the changing role of the DBA. I think Steve got it right. The problem is not the different titles that can be made out of […]

I goofed up the editorial yesterday – but wanted to get this out – sorry for any duplication for those that saw it on the site – SW. What Do We Call Ourselves These Days? I am in Las Vegas talking with some other IT pros and we got into a bit of a discussion today about what, exactly, we […]

What Do We Call Ourselves These Days? I am in Las Vegas talking with some other IT pros and we got into a bit of a discussion today about what, exactly, we call ourselves these days. I think "DBA" may be on the verge of being outdated, or at least too narrow. I also think the responsibilities of the positions […]

The New Rogue Database Platforms It would appear that my editorial on “nobody ever got fired for going with Big Blue” has struck a chord with many of you. Today we have three people who have sent links or written blogs on the topic. One thing of which I continue to be reminded is the strength of the PosgreSQL platform, […]

Nobody Ever Got Fired For… “Nobody ever got fired for going with Big Blue (IBM)” was a key phrase a couple of decades ago. IBM had tried and proven technology in hardware and software to keep your IT resource working and your company on track. Sure, there were other products and competitors. But they were often rogue upstarts you wouldn’t […]