Wednesday, December 14, 2005
That was the year that was.
I'm off to sunny Florida tomorrow, followed by freezing NJ a week later, so I thought now would be a good time to look back at 2005. There are probably as many ways to do this as there are sunday newspaper supplements, but I've chosen to pick my choice of the top posts from various Oracle blogs (plus a couple of associated sites).
I'll start, as my teachers taught me, at the beginning.
Lisa Dobson who runs the newbie dba blog for, well people at the start of their dba career, posted a couple of articles (I've picked the first) on What do I need to know?
Now the most common response to this you'll receive in an online forum is the rather rude RTFM. Tom Kyte had a view on this response back in July as often with Tom's blog the discussion it generated was nearly as good as the original post.
Also with beginnings and comments, we see Mogens Norgaard starting out on the blog thing and immediately using comments to post new content:)
One of the nice things about blogs is that they allow the personality of the author through, sometimes though personality can become ego. This trend was nicely pointed up by Doug Burns here.
The other trend that I see occurring is blog authors using their blogs to explain something they know well to a wider audience. I hope this continues. So my next choice is not a post, but a series of posts by David Aldridge in which he talks about optimisation and new uses for materialized views. The series starts here.
On the other hand this gem spotted by both Oracle-wtf and Fabian Pascal doesn't explain anything at all much. Least of all joins.
I have just taken delivery of Jonathan Lewis' new book - a review will have to wait until the new year. One thing however that immediately stands out is the meticulous attention to detail. It is this same attention to detail, coupled with clear and direct explanation that characterised Jonathan's series of articles named after Lewis Carroll's mysterious beast the Snark.
Finally and by way of Pete Finnigan and possibly a prelude to one of the Hot Topics for Oracle in 2006 is my namesake David Litchfield's critique of Oracle Corporation's approach to security.
6 Comments
I'll start, as my teachers taught me, at the beginning.
Lisa Dobson who runs the newbie dba blog for, well people at the start of their dba career, posted a couple of articles (I've picked the first) on What do I need to know?
Now the most common response to this you'll receive in an online forum is the rather rude RTFM. Tom Kyte had a view on this response back in July as often with Tom's blog the discussion it generated was nearly as good as the original post.
Also with beginnings and comments, we see Mogens Norgaard starting out on the blog thing and immediately using comments to post new content:)
One of the nice things about blogs is that they allow the personality of the author through, sometimes though personality can become ego. This trend was nicely pointed up by Doug Burns here.
The other trend that I see occurring is blog authors using their blogs to explain something they know well to a wider audience. I hope this continues. So my next choice is not a post, but a series of posts by David Aldridge in which he talks about optimisation and new uses for materialized views. The series starts here.
On the other hand this gem spotted by both Oracle-wtf and Fabian Pascal doesn't explain anything at all much. Least of all joins.
I have just taken delivery of Jonathan Lewis' new book - a review will have to wait until the new year. One thing however that immediately stands out is the meticulous attention to detail. It is this same attention to detail, coupled with clear and direct explanation that characterised Jonathan's series of articles named after Lewis Carroll's mysterious beast the Snark.
Finally and by way of Pete Finnigan and possibly a prelude to one of the Hot Topics for Oracle in 2006 is my namesake David Litchfield's critique of Oracle Corporation's approach to security.
6 Comments:
Thanks Niall, I had not seen Doug's post and it was indeed a good one.
Now of course, a post from months ago elsewhere shouldn't be responded to here, should it? Would that be a limitation of the blogging paradigm?
But anyways, I disagree with the statement about code crashing being fundamentally useless. Depends on how it was crafted to crash, and what the practical results of its crashing are. The most obvious practical use these days is security violation. Other uses are to instrument root cause analysis of the crash, and some software needs to crash a certain predictable way (ie, do not point airplane down).
As to the idea of software development being a craft, I'm of two minds. Since I'm kind of a pokey, it's a good rationalization to set expectations of my customers. But there are a lot of mass development projects that can benefit from McCode. So some of those can benefit from proper engineering practices, and some of those are good enough blatted out by donkeys. I think Tom Kyte in a recent post hit the nail on the head, multiuser concerns are the difference. In fact, that's why I put Multiuser in the name of my company decades ago, to differentiate myself from the PeeCee experts popping up all over (not referring to kool stuff like you were doing, Doug! But rather, those who became known as Power Users, and the now ubiquitous geeky kids).
Now of course, a post from months ago elsewhere shouldn't be responded to here, should it? Would that be a limitation of the blogging paradigm?
But anyways, I disagree with the statement about code crashing being fundamentally useless. Depends on how it was crafted to crash, and what the practical results of its crashing are. The most obvious practical use these days is security violation. Other uses are to instrument root cause analysis of the crash, and some software needs to crash a certain predictable way (ie, do not point airplane down).
As to the idea of software development being a craft, I'm of two minds. Since I'm kind of a pokey, it's a good rationalization to set expectations of my customers. But there are a lot of mass development projects that can benefit from McCode. So some of those can benefit from proper engineering practices, and some of those are good enough blatted out by donkeys. I think Tom Kyte in a recent post hit the nail on the head, multiuser concerns are the difference. In fact, that's why I put Multiuser in the name of my company decades ago, to differentiate myself from the PeeCee experts popping up all over (not referring to kool stuff like you were doing, Doug! But rather, those who became known as Power Users, and the now ubiquitous geeky kids).
I am glad to know that I am not the only one who has low regards for the "RTFM" crowd. I have had a few altercations with such people trying to point out to them that if they think a question is a waste of time, then they shouldn't waste their time on it.
# posted by 
: 10:48 AM, December 22, 2005
: 10:48 AM, December 22, 2005
Niall,
Where in NJ are you going to be - or by now - where you?
I wish I would have known earlier that you were going to be in the area.
Have a happy new year.
Paul
Where in NJ are you going to be - or by now - where you?
I wish I would have known earlier that you were going to be in the area.
Have a happy new year.
Paul
# posted by : 9:56 PM, December 30, 2005
: 9:56 PM, December 30, 2005
Paul
I was in Cranford. At the time you posted however I was at Newark Intl waiting to fly home. Home now and flying to Jersey to escape the cold worked well.
I was in Cranford. At the time you posted however I was at Newark Intl waiting to fly home. Home now and flying to Jersey to escape the cold worked well.
wish you a great and so much 2006 sir.Happy new year to you.
with best wishes and regards
Aman Sharma.
with best wishes and regards
Aman Sharma.
Niall,
I'm in Westfield - a train stop away (Garwood doesn't really count).
Did you manage to catch a pint at Antone's or The Office?
The only resolution that I made this year was to start using RSS - and hopefully catch items such as this in time.
Paul
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I'm in Westfield - a train stop away (Garwood doesn't really count).
Did you manage to catch a pint at Antone's or The Office?
The only resolution that I made this year was to start using RSS - and hopefully catch items such as this in time.
Paul
# posted by : 9:25 PM, January 02, 2006
: 9:25 PM, January 02, 2006
