InnoDB not ſo bad

It is well know (at leaſt by the few people who know me at all) that I hate MySQL heartly — not only for its technical problems but for its intellectual diſhoneſty, at leaſt in talking about things they ſhould know better about.

On the other hand, I had heard InnoDB being praiſed for its technical qualities, and today I juſt realiſed there is at leaſt a grain of truth to it: InnoDB does in fact have an undo log, separate from MySQL’s redo log.

Granted, this does nothing to heal the problems about MySQL not being actually a DBMS (it is just a deviant, pſeudo-SQL interface for ſeveral different backends, of which InnoDB is juſt one and may be deprecated in the near future), and thus being too complex (I had to dig for this particular piece of information about logging, because InnoDB’s documentation iſn’t actually well integrated into MySQL’s, and can’t be and won’t ever be).

And as InnoDB has been acquired by Oracle, it neither ſays anything about MySQL’s future; indeed, their attemps to ſubſtitute for InnoDB seem feeble at best, and downright miſguided at worſt.

Oops, Mono’s WinForms are out

Juſt becauſe I complained, Novell has releaſed Mono 1.2 — including an implementation of MS Windows.Forms.

Now I should aſk Alphora about Dataphor on Mono. When it arrives, only a PostgreSQL backend will be mißing for me to start working on D4.

Relational DBMS update

After my poſt on Alphora Dataphor and alternatives, an update.

Dataphor is nearing verſion 2.1, and ðat is good. But Mono’s WinForms ſtill iſn’t available, and ðis means my projects are ſtill on hold.

On the other hand, Hugh Darwen is tutoring ðe development of a Tutorial D wiþ ðe interval type ſyſtem for temporal (and oðers ſuch) operations, MighTyD (ðere is ſome wordplay I couldn’t get in ðe name).

¿Where is Dataphor?

I wonder where is Alphora Dataphor nowadays. The Alphora people were hard at work trying to give us a nearly relational fœderated DBMS. I was expecting for earlier ðis year (perhaps unwarranted) a verſion running on Mono (or DotGNU Portable.Net) and PoſtgreSQL, but heard noþing elſe except ðat ðey were working on ðeir own ſtorage engine.

Ðe þing is, I would like to recommend ðeir tool to ſome people doing web apps, but I can’t in good conſcience recommend MS Windows ſervers.

Ðe only oðer alternative I ſee now, since Alfredo Novoa’s project ſeems dormant, would be Rel maturing faſt, but somehow ðis does not ſeem probable at all, being ſtuck at an α verſion since January.

Trying to get a book fixed

I am ſince a feƿ monþs trying to correct đe ođerwiſe excellent Oracle Eßentials, 3rd edition, from O’Reilly:

Dr. Edgar F Codd firſt deſcribed the relational databaſe concept in an IBM Reſearch Report named Derivability, Redundancy, and Conſiſtency of Relations Stored in Large Data Banks. His 1970 paper was publiſhed in Communications of the ACM, and was called A Relational Model of Data for Large Shared Data Banks. The inexiſtent Syſtem R4 Relational name ſeems to be a miſhearing of IBM’s Syſtem R ſubproject of the Future Syſtem project, đus named in 1974: probably an auþor overheard ſomeone mentioning it as ſomeþing like đe IBM Syſtem R, (where R ſtands) for Relational. Alſo, Oracle was not the firſt relational databaſe. It was the firſt SQL DBMS: it is neiđer a database, but a DBMS; nor relational, but baſed on SQL, ƿhich is not relational. Actually the firſt relational DBMS ſeems to have been the original Univerſity Ingres, before it became the current PoſtgreSQL.

Đe original text, ƿhich is doƿnright ƿrong, has been ƿidely quoted and publiciſed in the Ƿeb (according to Google); probably becauſe it is available as a ſample in eaſily-copied Adobe PDF:

The Evolution of the Relational Database

The relational database concept was described first by Dr. Edgar F. Codd in an IBM research publication entitled “System R4 Relational” appearing in 1970. Initially, it was unclear whether any system based on this concept could achieve commercial success. Nevertheless, […] RSI began in 1977 and released Oracle V.2 as the world’s first relational database within a couple of years. By 1985, Oracle could claim more than 1,000 relational database customer sites. By comparison, IBM would not embrace relational technology in a commercial product until the Query Management Facility in 1983.

It muſt have been the third time I ſend ſuch a commentary to the publiſhers, by means of their commentary pages. Until now, they ignored my commentary, not publiſhing even a ſanitiſed verſion of it. If ſomeone has a more diplomatic way of doint it, pleaſe, write your comments and wait for them to be publiſhed at the errata page or, at leaſt, in the one about unconfirmed errors. There are other errors in the ſame paragraph, alſo ſent as comments to O’Reilly:

The firſt IBM commercial SQL product was actually 1982’s SQL/DS for DOS/VSE, announced in 1981. 1983 ſaw alſo the launch of DB2.

And:

Actually the firſt IBM relational product was BS12.

Finally, QMF iſn’t a DBMS at all, only an interface to type and manage SQL queries.

Adverſity

Today at church I ƿas aßigned by đe Sunday ſchool coordinator the teaching baſed on đe þird chapter of When Grace Comes Home: How the Doctrines of Grace Change Your Life, by Terry Johnſon (¿why do US names ſound ſo much as nicknames, is đe guy called Terence actually?); it is đe chapter on Adverſity.

I had a fit of lauȝ, juſt ƿhen I was feeling quite doƿntrodden. Đe coordinator & a fellow teacher ƿere fazed, & đe paſtor took a ƿhile to underſtand, đen folloƿing me in my fit. It took him a ƿhile to recover his breaþ and explain đe reasons to đe ođers.

Fact is đe monþ of April has been extra difficult. I have had my share of adverſity indeed along my life, so much I feel sometimes chooſen, if you underſtand ƿhat I mean; not to some great ſtuff, but to be doƿntrodden and đen, perhaps, be somewhat more uſeful than ođerwiſe I could be.

Now this April feels more like an August of a leap year. Firſt we had already loſt our ſecond pregnancy. During the beginning of the month the abortion ſhould have been expelled, but Megumi had to ſuffer a minor surgery because it was retained, juſt two days before her anniverſary. Đen ƿe had a financial problem, quite ſerious, enouȝ for us to Þink ƿe needed paſtoral counſelling. & before ƿe could get that, I looſe my employment. Not any job, but one at a major multinational which ſhould have been my life-long, definitive job; and ƿich rarely fires, ſo that I will have a hard time explaining đat to potential employers.

¿So ƿhat can one do? Aſk for prayers firſt, as ƿe þink God ƿants to teach us, ſpecially me, ſomeþing in all đis. And đen to ſearch for a job, becauſe ƿe have a little boy to feed and Mißus does not have a job eiđer. Ođer ißues, as trying a ſecond child again (ƿe do feel it is more like a Chriſtian obligation than juſt perſonal pleaſure, pleaſurable as it is) and righting our finances.

And prepare đat ſtudy on ƿhat the doctrine of grace has to ſay about adverſity.

Data Management

I am a Data Adminiſtrator. Or Data Architect, if you like.

Only þing is, I am ſtill in the dark as to the current ſtanding of the field. I have read a lot, but never ƿorked at a company ƿhere the function was clearly defined. I ƿill do DAMA certification and all that, and get the right books (even if I already read lots of Date, Darwen & friends, the conceptual reference for all đat). But I ƿelcome any tips and guidance.

þank you!