The beta is awesome! (2)

It's a big step for Foxhound when a new version of SQL Anywhere is released.

First, Foxhound has compile on Version 12, then it has to run properly against target databases created with versions 5.5 through 11.

What is Foxhound? It's a database monitor and schema display utility for SQL Anywhere databases, currently in development with its own beta planned for 2010.

Foxhound also has to recognize target databases created with version 12, and then it has to work properly with those target databases... it's one thing to get Foxhound to stop rejecting "12" as a database version number, quite another matter to get Foxhound to handle version 12's enhancements and behavior changes.

But, first things first: Foxhound compiles cleanly on the SQL Anywhere version 12 beta with no code changes, and it passes a simple smoke test.

Woohoo! That's no mean feat... virtually all of Foxhound is written in SQL...

• 80,000 lines of rather funky Watcom SQL, up from 60,000 lines a year ago,

• 200 web services, procedures, events and triggers,

• 340 tables and views with 2600 columns, plus

• 1,300 lines of C in 9 external procedures.

So, thank you, iAnywhere Solutions, for (a) not shipping broken code and (b) not breaking my code!

When will SQLA go live?

The SQL Anywhere question & answer site SQLA will probably go live sometime in 2010, possibly before the US midterm elections (what, isn't EVERYONE waiting to see what happens on November 2? :)

Here are some points to consider:

• SQLA will not go live until after the underlying StackExchange software goes live.

• According to meta.stackexchange.com/questions/3176/whats-coming-in-beta-6 Beta 6 of StackExchange will start in January 2010, and there will be a Beta 7 after that.

• According to meta.stackexchange.com/questions/2993/whats-new-in-beta-5 Beta 5 went live November 30, 2009 so it looks like each Beta period lasts one month... extrapolate wildly, and Beta 7 won't end until March 2010.

...and maybe there will be a Beta 8, who knows?

• There are a lot of little bugs in the underlying software, you've probably seen them and been just as irritated by them as I have. Feel free to report them on meta.stackexchange.com, but if you do, you'll probably see they've already been discussed... which is why I don't bother sweating the small stuff.

• There are quite a few features that are "stubbed out" (not yet implemented) in the administration areas "admin", "mod" and "tools". The big one, IMO, is called "Download Your StackExchange Database". That's huge. SQLA will never go live without that one.

Not ever.

Allow me to elaborate: The creator of StackExchange just lost his entire blog because he didn't take responsibility for backing up his own data. SQLA is not my data, it is your data. It's one thing for Jeff Atwood to be careless with his own data, that's his problem. It would be an entirely different matter for me to take the same risks with your data. I don't care how safe the Fog Creek infrastructure is... blah blah blah cloud computing blah blah blah.



Until there is a reasonably convenient and absolutely reliable way for me to back up SQLA content, it ain't ever going live.

---

Here's what I really think: The backup problem will go away long before StackExchange goes live, and we'll be able to "pump up the volume" (invite more participation in SQLA) sometime in January or February.

That will happen before SQLA goes "live"... it will still say "govern yourself accordingly", but it'll be a lot more fun!

The beta is awesome!

I'm probably violating some part of the EULA just by saying that, but I don't care.

Folks who join the SQL Anywhere 12 beta can read my article "Top 1 Cool New Features In SQL Anywhere 12" in the beta newsgroup... that's where I talk about how much adjective deleted noun deleted are.

Then there's the follow up "Top 2 Cool New Features In SQL Anywhere 12" where I discover the new noun deleted feature.

The best part, it hasn't verb deleted, not once!

Good Luck Glenn!

Good luck Glenn, on today's webcast....

Object Relational Mappers: Friend or Foe?

Join the SQL Anywhere experts for a deep dive discussion on Object Relational Mappers.

Object relational mappers (ORMs) such as LINQ, Hibernate, and ActiveRecord bridge the gap between the relational database world, and the object-oriented world. By abstracting the database into "virtual database objects", they let programmers develop in any language and environment that they like without ever writing a line of SQL. It sounds great, but is the ORMs sweet song actually a siren's call? This talk will put ORMs on trial to help us find the answer.

Presenter: Glenn Paulley, Director of Engineering

Date: Tuesday December 15th
Time: 7am PST / 10am EST / 3pm GMT / 4pm CET
or 11am PST / 2pm EST / 7pm GMT / 8pm CET

Why SQLA Exists

The SQL Anywhere question and answer website SQLA exists for questions like this

What particular statistics should one look at to help decide the best database page size to use?

and answers like this.

That doesn't mean you can't ask questions like "Where does the semicolon go?", those are perfectly fine and will be answered quickly and politely... but you've gotta appreciate the gems!

Object Relational Mappers: Friend or Foe?

Folks who know me, even just a little, know where I stand on the subject of Object Relational Mappers: Friend or Foe?

For everyone else, here's a hint: ORMs are like this Safety Device for Walking on Icy Pavements...

When you slip on ice, your foot kicks paddle (A), lowering finger (B), snapping turtle (C) extends neck to bite finger, opening ice tongs (D) and dropping pillow (E), thus allowing you to fall on something soft.

Which brings us to this webcast...

...I can't wait to hear what Glenn has to say!

Object Relational Mappers: Friend or Foe?

Join the SQL Anywhere experts for a deep dive discussion on Object Relational Mappers.

Object relational mappers (ORMs) such as LINQ, Hibernate, and ActiveRecord bridge the gap between the relational database world, and the object-oriented world. By abstracting the database into "virtual database objects", they let programmers develop in any language and environment that they like without ever writing a line of SQL. It sounds great, but is the ORMs sweet song actually a siren's call? This talk will put ORMs on trial to help us find the answer.

Presenter: Glenn Paulley, Director of Engineering

Date: Tuesday December 15th
Time: 7am PST / 10am EST / 3pm GMT / 4pm CET
or 11am PST / 2pm EST / 7pm GMT / 8pm CET