Search results matching tags 'Database Design' and 'SQL Saturday'

And interview, an online session, a long drive and a SQL Saturday… This week!

drsql — Tue, 14 Aug 2012 04:38:03 GMT

Later this week I will be doing an episode of the Greg Low’s excellent SQL Down Under podcast (http://www.sqldownunder.com/Resources/Podcast.aspx), something I did once before back in 2006. If you haven’t listened to any of the previous editions, there are some amazing people who have been on his podcast.

On Thursday at 12:00 Central Time, I will be doing a presentation entitled Designing for Common Problems in SQL Server for the PASS Data Architecture Virtual Chapter.

Friday I will be driving up to Cleveland, OH for SQL Saturday 164. I will be doing the Designing for Common Problems in SQL Server session, along with the Sequences session that I have done at several SQL Saturdays so far. Saturday I will give away two copies of my brand new book, one in each session, so if you want to be the first person I give one to, be there!

Right now, the biggest issue is that the Designing for Common Problems session is WAY too long. In my prep so far, I have gotten halfway through with the patterns and code in one and a half hours. So who knows what I will do to cut down the time, either limit the patterns, or perhaps split the session? I will figure something out… at least on Saturday when I have real people I can poll the audience to see what they want to see in detail. Online pretty much all you see are people’s names and the clock ticking away.

I have a few other things coming up, including picking speakers for Nashville’s SQL Saturday, shipping out books to my SQL Rally attendees, and Devlink at the end of the month (when I will have a bit longer to the Common Problems session, thankfully), but more on that after this weekend.

See you in Columbus Saturday?

drsql — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 04:32:45 GMT

Assuming all goes as planned, I will be in Columbus, OH this Friday night and Saturday for SQL Saturday 75. I really love SQL Saturday events the best of all of the events because they are very intimate in nature. As a fairly antisocial person, I sometimes get overwhelmed by the size of other events, even the SQL Rally was just barely in my comfort range. Here the number of people and size of rooms just feels like home, like you are shooting the breeze with a group of friends.

My session will be at 9:00 AM (full schedule), so don’t be late!

Characteristics of a Great Relational Database
When queried, most database professionals would mention normalized as one of the most important characteristics that tell the difference between a good and bad database design. I won't disagree in the least, but there is so much more to be considered. Even if you did a great job of normalization, poor naming, poorly implemented keys, too many or too few indexes, and so on can derail your design. In this session I will present seven primary characteristics of a design that differentiates between an ugly design that will have your colleagues nitpicking you to death and one that will have them singing your praises. Characteristics such as comprehendible, documented, secure, well performing, and more (including normalized, naturally) will be discussed.

It is the second time I will do this presentation, and the first time where I can see the faces of the recipients, so it will be nice to gauge how people like it. It is a lot of fun actually, though no matter what I am talking about I want to talk more about normalization, which I believe is the key to improving the databases of the future. So many of the session that are given at these things are geared towards systems that are already screwed up and limping along, and I really want to evangelize the merits of doing it right. That is where this presentation fits in, the time period between design and performance tuning, where you determine the future work that is done with the system. Is it well performing, understandable, easy to maintain and use? Or does it take a crew of ten thousand DBAs doing nothing but putting their fingers in the leaks to keep the thing running?

And don’t forget all of those BI sessions too… The better you do with the relational database, the easier the dimensional designer/implementers have it too.

Anyhow, I hope to see you all there (well, not all of you, just the SQL nerds who are reading this. The history buffs who are still wondering why we are going to be inside the founder of our continent this weekend, well, you I feel sorry for you.

Reminder: Presenting Database Design for Developers at SQL Saturday Nashville!

andyleonard — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 16:00:00 GMT

A quick reminder: I am honored to present Database Design for Developers at SQL Saturday #51 in Nashville 21 Aug 2010!

If you read this blog and will be in attendance, introduce yourself!

:{> Andy