Robert Young

Robert Young has been practicing data science since before the term was invented. He has worked for large and small organizations, building applications as varied as OLTP for food distribution and medical prequalification software, with most RDBMS (from dBaseII to mainframe DB2) and statistical languages (from BMDP to R). His current obsession is marrying the two.

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22 September 2014
22 September 2014

Ninja Immutable Databases

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'Immutable' databases operate under the principle that data or objects should not be modified after they are created. Once again they hold the promise of providing strong consistency combined with horizontal read scalability, and built-in caching. Are Immutable databases a new idea? Are they different in any way from the mainstream RDBMSs.… Read more
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17 January 2012
17 January 2012

Relational Databases and Solid State Memory: An Opportunity Squandered?

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The relational model was devised long before computer hardware was able to deliver an RDBMS that could deliver a fully normalized database with no performance deficit. Now, with reliable SSDs falling in price, we can reap the benefits, instead of getting distracted by NOSQL with its doubtful compromise of 'eventual consistency'.… Read more
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27 September 2011
27 September 2011

Going Beyond the Relational Model with Data

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SQL is a powerful tool for querying data, and for aggregating it. However, you can't easily use it to draw inferences, to make predictions, or to tease out subtle correlations. To provide ever more sophisticated inferences to businesses, the race is on to combine the power of the relational model with advanced statistical packages. Both IBM and PostGres are ready with solutions. And SQL Server? Hmm...… Read more
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