PowerShell has radically improved the ease of monitoring and adminstering Windows-based servers, and automating routine processes. The visionary leader of this project is Jeffery Snover, who is now Lead Architect for both Windows Server and System Center Datacenter. … Read more
Alex Payne worked on developing Twitter for three years. When he started, it was a small side-project: When he left, it had become an international cultural phenomenon. Since then, he has worked with several early-stage start-ups. He has been researching a book on the history of programming languages, and is co-author of a book on Scala. … Read more
So often at the start of the development of database applications, there is a premature rush to the keyboard. Unless, before we get there, we’ve mapped out and agreed the three data models, the Conceptual, the Logical and the Physical, then the inevitable refactoring will dog development work. It pays to get the data models … Read more
Bertrand Meyer, the author of 'Object-oriented Software Construction', renowned teacher, and designer of the Eiffel programming language, believes in simple elegant computer languages. Java, C# and Python all owe much to his pioneering work with Eiffel. He was also deeply involved with .NET from the outset. … Read more
Sometimes, on Simple-Talk, it takes a while to spot strange and unexpected patterns of user activity, or small bugs. For example, one morning we spotted that an article’s comment count had leapt to 1485, but that only four were displayed. With some rooting around in Google Analytics, and the endlessly annoying Community Server admin-interface, we … Read more
Meredith Ryan - DBA at the Bell Group -was elected by judges and the SQL Server community as the Exceptional DBA of 2012. So who is Meredith, and how did she become a DBA? What makes her exceptional at her work? We sent Richard Morris to investigate.… Read more
If you're a technical professional, it is a good idea to belong to a professional association. There are several to choose from, and they all provide benefits. It is worth checking what each of the associations state as being their primary goal, before deciding which ones are right for you.… Read more
Instead of waiting until the end of a project to ask 'what worked and what didn't, why not use regular retrospective analysis as part of the development process to find out what is, and isn't, working, and learn from the conclusions there and then?… Read more
It is inevitable that anyone who inherits responsibility for an application will experience that feeling of nagging apprehension. Some signs of doom are universal, the same whether it is a legacy code base, a bought-in system, or group of SQL Servers. It starts with the shiftiness of the manager breaking the news, telltale beads of … Read more
In order to make progress in your career in IT, you need to actively plan your professional development rather then allow others around you to control it. For anyone in IT, the task of learning new skills and technologies is part of your work: and you can do it right where you are, in your current job.… Read more
Although development teams are inching closer toward their ideal of a fully automated build and deployment strategy for their applications, a stage remains that is obstinately resistant to automation. Database deployment, and the handover to production support is both inevitable and necessary, but it is currently a manual process. This is particularly tricky in larger … Read more
When looking for a suitable Geek of the Week, we wondered whether a suitable candidate might be the man who pioneered structured programming, invented modular programming and who wrote one of the first languages with features for Object-oriented programming. Yes, for a second time, Niklaus Wirth, gets the accolade of 'Geek of the Week' and shows that he is still the radical thinker with strong view about computer languages.… Read more
Ron Gruner helped to crate some of the best of Data General's Minicomputers, and then co-founded Alliant, producer of the first parallel supercomputer that was able to decompose programs to run them in parallel. He then became an internet pioneer, who created the successful Shareholder.com site, and is now working on Sky Analytics for benchmarking the costs and expenses of law firms.… Read more
Jenkins, formerly called Hudson, is an open-source server-based Continuous Integration tool that works with all the major Source Control Management (SCM) tools including TFS, and can even script in PowerShell. It is clever software written by a clever geek, Kohsuke Kawaguchi.… Read more
Most developers and DBAs will know what it’s like to be asked to do “a quick tidy up” on a project that, on closer inspection, turns out to be a barely working prototype: as the cynical programmer says, “when you’re told that a project is 90% done, prepare for the next 90%”. It is easy … Read more
James Hong was one of a generation of entrepreneurs who fell into the role almost accidentally by creating an application purely for their own age-group. Unlike many others, James has learned from his experiences and has become a successful advisor to, and investor in, startups, Here, he gives sage advice about surviving in the technology business.… Read more
After suffering the wholesale plagiarism of articles from Simple-Talk by a Pakistan-based website (now 'suspended'), we asked our Pakistan Correspondent, Alamzeb Kahn, to find out more about the extent of the problem in IT, and the increasing government involvement in international action against the global problem of plagiarism.… Read more
A deceptively simple solution to a business-re-engineering problem can beguile companies into selecting a compromise that doesn't actually meet all their needs. Simple is great, but not at the expense of functionality. Some IT solutions are complex because the problem is complex, but they can be made conceptually clearer… Read more
Chuck Lathrope was a finalist for the Exceptional DBA of the Year award in 2009. We contacted him to find out more about how he became a DBA and for his views about the profession. What is the making of an excptional DBA?… Read more
A developer suggested to me recently that the life of the DBA was, surely, a dull one. My first reaction was indignation, but quickly followed by the thought that for many people excitement isn’t necessarily the most desirable aspect of their job. It’s true that some aspects of the DBA role seem guaranteed to quieten … Read more
