by Joe Celko – If you hang around the database developer newsgroups, you’ll find rookie programmers who write their code with proprietary features of whatever SQL product they have. They argue that they’ll never have to port this code, so why bother to write standard SQL when you can gain some advan
Other News
How the Query Optimizer Uses Statistics
When the query optimizer in SQL Server 7.0 examines the distribution statistics of a composite index, does it take into account the statistics for each column in the index or just the statistics in the first column (assuming that this table has only index statistics, not column statistics)? If the o
Oracle, Unisys Team on Transportation Security
By Lisa Vaas – Oracle Corp. and Unisys Corp. have been tapped by a Homeland Security agency to construct a single online spot to report security incidents relating to airlines and other transportation systems and for travelers to check on situations in flux.
A Look at MSXML 4.0 RTM
By John Peterson – While I’m sure many of you know that Microsoft has released version 4.0 of their XML parser, for those of you who don’t, well you do now… and this should serve as your wake up call!
Output large XML documents, Part 1
by Brett McLaughlin – This tip details the problems associated with outputting large XML documents, starting with an examination of the options for XML output. It then looks at DOM and XML output, along with possible solutions to the memory consumption associated with extended DOM usage. You’ll get
XML Isn’t Too Hard
by Kendall Grant Clark – Before setting off for PyCon, I finished an XML-Deviant column (“An XML Hero Reconsiders?”) in which I examined the XML development community’s reaction to some recent questions posed by Tim Bray about a perennial bugaboo, XML parsing strategies. To my surprise, the conversa
The Curse and Blessings of Dynamic SQL
by Erland Sommarskog – Use with care: about dynamic SQL in stored procedures in MS SQL Server, why use stored procedures at all, the conflicts between the virtues of stored procedures and the effects of dynamic SQL, and more.
Partitioning Tips
By Itzik Ben-Gan – Here are some tips about using partitioned views, including how to circumvent the limitation on inserting data into tables through a partitioned view, and problems with using constants in the partitioning criteria.
Databases Ripe for Attacks
By Lisa Vaas – One reason the Slammer worm was able to wreak so much havoc is database administrators are loathe to install patches that haven’t been thoroughly tested.
Depth-first Grant Tree Traversal
by Kirill Richine – The script below provides a mechanism to depth-first traverse and list the contents of these trees. The first block takes a grantee as argument and lists the grant tree for it. The second block takes a privilege as argument and lists the grantee tree for it.