It was great being able to have the opportunity to elucidate my thoughts on this matter formally at SQL Down Under Code Camp '07.

For completeness, here are my slides: The Zen of T-SQL SDU CC.ppt (128.5 KB)

I really enjoyed meeting so many nice and very clever folks.  Thanks to Greg and all involved in putting on the Code Camp, what a really great event!

For the record, the image is of Kasprowicz catching Pietersen at NatWest Challenge Final, The Oval, 2005.

I'm just catching up on my feeds and saw Nick Hodge's post with his slides from the Australian Blogging Conference. 

Without the benefit of the associated naration they are still worth a look on the topic of business blogging.

I have been looking at company blogs to satisfy a mixture of professional and after-5 curiosities. The example I keep coming back to is 37signals.

The reasons they top my list are:

• They separate their affairs into a product blog and the SvN blog "company" blog.
• They are current 
• They are well written (easy to read) 
• They are frank

The product blog is a great read for hearing how to get the most out of their products. In their own words, Signal vs. Noise, a weblog by 37signals about design, business, experience, simplicity, the web, culture, and more.

For a tech R&D shop, this is about as good as I have seen.  I'd also welcome comments on other good examples that people like!

An honourable mention goes to Art. Levedev Studio’s Life and Incredible Adventures of Optimus Keyboard blog where you can keep up with the hardware development in what may turn out to be the last word in keyboards!

I came across the following example in Inside T-SQL Programming, which I am digesting at the moment.  Actually it is credited to Steve Kass (technical editor):

SELECT OrderId, OrderDate
FROM dbo.Orders
WHERE DATEDIFF(day, '19000102', OrderDate) % 7 = 0

This query is to answer the question "Which orders were placed on a Tuesday?".  The query isn't particularly magic, but the idea behind it is as close to the zen of T-SQL as I can remember seeing:

There are 7 days between any two Tuesdays.  If we know one Tuesday (like the 2nd Jan 1900) we have all the Tuesdays since.

What a great mindset to take with querying.

Listening To:   Places like this, Architecture In Helsinki

Problem:

Sorry Adobe, parentheses are valid characters in a path.

Solution:

Luckily the work around is quite easy...

Check the 8.3 name of the x86 Program Files path in this listing:

c:\>dir /N /X
 Volume in drive C has no label.
 Volume Serial Number is BA64-04DE

 Directory of c:\

28/08/2007  01:04 PM            30,469 DXCORE~1.LOG DxCoreInsaller.log
27/08/2007  07:24 PM    <DIR>                       inetpub
28/08/2007  01:26 PM    <DIR>                       NVIDIA
28/08/2007  01:44 PM    <DIR>          PROGRA~1     Program Files
28/08/2007  01:42 PM    <DIR>          PROGRA~2     Program Files (x86)
27/08/2007  09:41 PM    <DIR>                       Users
28/08/2007  01:45 PM    <DIR>                       Windows

Creative Suite 2 will install and work if you actually type in the 8.3 name for the x86 Program Files path, like:

C:\Progra~2\Adobe

I wonder who is next...

Listening to: Northern Substructures compilation

First, some breif background:  My motherboard went belly up, electronic burning smell and all.  Power supply was suspect too.

So time to go shopping!

The new motherboard is the ASUS P5K Premium.

For the CPU I went with the Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600.

An important goal for me was this build was Virutal PC performance, and I am pleased to report it is doing just fine.

The WEI score is up to 5.3, broken down as follows:

Processor	Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad CPU @ 2.40GHz	5.9
Memory (RAM)	4.00 GB	5.5
Graphics	NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GS	5.9
Gaming	graphics 2303 MB Total available graphics memory	5.3
Primary hard disk	107GB Free (149GB Total)	5.6

The most important change for me was installing the 64 bit edition of Windows Vista Ultimate.  So far I've not had any dramas with drivers and only the odd run-in with apps.  For this I have started a new category on my blog:  Who sucks at 64 bit.

It would be remis of me to not mention the great help that Kernel at KNK Professionals was.  He went to great lengths to make sure I had the hardware that I needed.  All while his wife was giving birth to their first baby!  Highly recommended.

Why?  They are taking up space and not the latest editions.

How?  Just leave a comment on this blog post.  Include your email address if I don't know you

The books on offer are:

Microsoft
Professional SQL Server DTS, Chaffin, Knight & Robinson [link]
Introducing Microsoft.NET, by David Platt (famed author of Why Software Sucks) [link] Taken!
Programming Microsoft SQL Server 2000 with XML [link] Taken!
Microsoft SQL Server 7.0 Administrator's pocket consultant [link]
Microsft SQL Server 2000 Administration Readiness Review for MCSE Exam 70-228 [link]
Microsoft Visual Basic Design Patterns [link]
Java
Java Servlet Programming. Hunter, Crawford. [link]
XML, XSLT, Java, and JSP. A case study in developing a web application. [link]
Java Enterprise in a nutshell, a desktop quick reference [link]
Linux
Linux Routers, a primer for network administrators, Tony Mancill [link]

Caveats: Some of these are a bit marked on the cover from normal wear and tear.  Original CDs are still in the book where applicable.  Email me if postage is required.

Don’t underestimate the sly and insidious lengths Personal Firewall products in general, and Norton Internet Security 2007 in particular, will go to in fulfilling its goal of disrupting SQL Sever Management Studio.

That will be all.

For a limited time, members of CSharpZealot.com have access to some free Silverlight training content!  Here's how:

• You will need to grab the Silverlight 1.0 RC1 SDK
• .NET Framework, v1.1 (required by the InnerWorkings bits, regardless of the training being in Visual Studio 2005)
  
• Register at CSharpZealot.com if you have not already done so
  
• Follow the link on Brian's blog to InnerWorkings special promotion for CSharpZealots

Easy!

Also, I'm impressed at how well the InnerWorkings bits integrate with Visual Studio during the training experience.  You should really check it out.

Now please keep in mind that Web 2.0 (and it's previous incarnation, Web 0.9) supports bi-directional time travel. 

• Forward, at a pace of 1 second per second, same as daily life, really; and
  
• Backwards at a rate of 20 yrs in, say, about 150 miliseconds.

That means that if you are reading this blog post some time in the future, this offer may be closed.  It's only open for a limited time, so get to it!  Don't be the last guy on the block to not know how to use the MediaElement and VideoBrush in Silverlight!

Mad props (that's what the kids say these days, don't ya know?) to Brian Madsen, btw, for keeping CSharpZealot the place to get your .NET love.