The Bit Bucket

I’ve had a busy time reading books lately. Another one from my friends at PackT that looked interesting to me was Database Design and Modeling with PostgreSQL and MySQL: Build efficient and scalable databases for modern applications using open source databases by Alkin Tezuysal and Ibrar Ahmed.

PostgreSQL and MySQL

Database design and modeling is a passion of mine and, while most of my time in recent years has been spent on the SQL Server side of the fence, I’m always involved in PostgreSQL projects, and occasionally with MySQL. Each database has “a way of doing things” that’s considered best practices. MySQL has never been a database engine that I’m keen on, but with tools like WordPress, it’s always been part of some projects.

2024-10-02

Another book that my friends at PackT sent me for review recently was Microsoft Power BI Performance Best Practices by Thomas LeBlanc and Bhavik Merchant.

Over the years, I’ve come across Thomas many times but haven’t had the chance to spend time with him, unlike Bhavik who worked here in Australia quite a bit. They are a good combination to write this book.

Content - Downloads

I like the fact that samples of everything discussed in the book are available. I also like the idea that if you bought the printed book, that you can download a PDF as well.

2024-10-01

This is yet another post in the category of “I’ll record it here so that the next time I run into it, I can remember what it was”. And if it helps anyone else in the meantime, that’s a bonus.

I was trying to push some changes to an Azure Repos repository (as part of an Azure DevOps project).

No matter what I tried, the Commit button in the Git window was grayed out.

2024-09-25

This post is in the category of “I’ll record it here so that the next time I run into it, I can remember what it was”. And if it helps anyone else in the meantime, that’s a bonus.

I had configured a new repository in Azure Repos (as part of Azure DevOps), cloned it to a local copy, modified some files and tried to push them back to the repo.

2024-09-25

One of the events that I try to take part in each year is the Hack Summit. I’ve always enjoyed it.

The next edition of the The Hack Summit is on October 17th online and October 18th in Warsaw at Stadion PGE Narodowy. It’s a conference fully dedicated to cybersecurity.

I so wish I could have been there, but unfortunately, that’s not possible for me this year. The organizers describe it as having “a diverse and rich agenda, featuring more than 15 thematic tracks, over 150 presentations, networking opportunities, an afterparty, and much more….”.

2024-09-20

Another book that I’ve been sent for review lately, was a pre-release edition of Data Visualization with Microsoft Power BI by Alex Kolokolov and Maxim Zelensky. It looks like it’s released now.

I’ve known Alex for many years, and have acted as a judge in his UI competition each year. He has a flair for data visualization. In the book, he mentioned that he was initially puzzled by many people finding it hard. But noted that “I later discovered that for experienced analysts and data engineers, visualization was entirely unnecessary. They comprehend the data structure, and the relationships are evident to them simply through tables. They genuinely don’t understand the need for all these pie charts and graphs.”

2024-09-18

Just a heads-up that v24 of SDU Tools went out to SDU Insiders last week. If you haven’t used SDU Tools, they are just a large library of functions implemented in T-SQL. You can use them as a full library or use them as examples of code in work you are trying to do.

Backwards Compatibility

We’ve also tried to keep all the code working for all versions of SQL Server that we see clients using. That means from SQL Server 2008 to SQL Server 2022. We also have an Azure SQL DB version.

2024-09-10

I had some clear time this morning so I read a recent book called Deciphering Data Architectures (Choosing Between a Modern Data Warehouse, Data Fabric, Data Lakehouse, and Data Mesh) by James Serra.

Price

One comment I need to make is that for some reason, the O’Reilly titles seem to have become more expensive lately, and their freight options are expensive too. It was the same for this book. It was $112 AUD landed at my place. That’s so much more than any similar book that I’ve read lately, and this is not a large book.

2024-08-15

I recently received another eBook for review from our friends at PackT. This time it was an early release copy of the Third Edition of the Microsoft Power BI Cookbook by Greg Deckler and Brett Powell.

Cookbook Style?

I’m a fan of books written in a cookbook style, rather than a teaching style. Often, people already know the basics and just want to get prompted on how to do specific tasks.

2024-08-03

What many people who follow me don’t know, is that I spent a lot of years playing baseball. Early on I played third base, later I pitched, and my last position was usually catcher or first base.

I love the game. What is less known is that I also spent many years umpiring baseball, through to state level. I umpired in the Pan-Pacific games in Queensland.

Umpiring requires a very detailed knowledge of the rules of the game. Umpires must pass annual rules examinations. If you want to umpire at higher levels of competition, you must pass the exams at a higher level.

2024-08-02