Oct
03
I know this is late…. 3 months late :S but I recently did a write up for our internal magazine about the main points I picked up from Google IO, so I thought I’d share it with you guys. In June I was fortunate enough to be sent to Google IO in San Francisco. Google IO is an annual conference where technology enthused people from around the globe gather to attend the unveiling of much anticipated releases, gain the inside track on new and developing technologies, connect with others through a shared passion and receive the well-known free gadgets! This year did not disappoint in any of those remits. Read more…
Mar
04
In the final part of the specialised database series we look at how Cloud computing and the Sematic Web will effect the future of database technologies. ( (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4) There will be reference to appendix, these can be found in the full text here.
“Internet based technologies are likely to have a profound impact on how we view database systems in the future; especially as communications media is deployed supporting ever-increasing bandwidths. Two example technologies are the semantic web and cloud computing, both of which are already showing commercial promise.”
Considering the above statement I conducted research in two parts and summarised my argument below. Read more…
Feb
26
For the penultimate part of the specialised database series we look at Temporal databases ( (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3)
Temporal databases are concerned with storing data relating to time instances. It provides temporal data times and stores data relating to past, present and future time. There are a number of examples of applications where temporal database technology is used. Financial applications such as; FX trading platforms, accounts and banking and also scheduling applications such as; hotel reservations, project management and train schedules. (Jensen, 2000) Read more…
Feb
19
Spatial Database System
Put simply spatial databases are concerned with storing data in relation to space. Güting describes a spatial database as one that supports spatial data types in its data model. It provides a query language and at the minimum spatial indexing and spatial join methods. He goes on to state,
“Spatial database systems offer the underlying database technology for geographic information systems and other applications” (Güting, 1994)
Read more…
Feb
12
Continuing in the specialised database series we move on to Parallel databases (Part 1 was Deductive Databases)
Moving away from a centralised database management system, parallel databases are designed to provide a huge increase in performance through parallel command execution. In line with this Ramakrishnan & Gehrke recount that although data may be stored in a distributed fashion in such a system, the distribution is governed solely by performance considerations (Ramakrishnan & Gehrke, 2003). It should be noted that parallel databases are not equivalent to distributed databases, when discussing the distinction between parallel and distributed databases Özsu and Valduriez explain
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Feb
05
It’s been forever since I blogged! I’ve been working hard and studying a lot (my final year) so it’s been pretty tough. Through this though I have been studying about specialised databases and their roles in today’s world.Rather than let all my hard research work go to waste I’ve decided to do a series of blog posts on summarising some of the specialised databases out there. I’ll be lightly covering Deductive, Parallel, Spatial and Temporal Database systems. I will go slightly more in-depth into the futures of both Parallel and spatial databases and finish off with “Cloud Computing, the Semantic Web and the Future of Database Technology”, I’m hoping to release the 5 part series over 5 weeks. This will all, of course be referenced so that you can go into further reading if it interests you. I hope you guys enjoy the series and at the very least it will be a reference point for me in the future! So first up is Deductive databases. Read more…
Aug
29
As some of you may know I recently won myself a ticket to Prog .Net tutorials. AWESOME! Anyway I thought I’d break down the sessions that I’m going to and you can let me know if there’s anything you would like to ask or be brought up in these sessions and I’ll do my best do get your questions and issues resolved! (comment here or email me)
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Jul
21
Hi all, it’s been a while…okay ages! I’ve got a whole backlog of posts that I want to do but this one came up recently and I thought I’d share it. So you know the great R# shortcut Alt + insert that allows you to quickly insert a class or interface etc. Well recently, in conversation, the question was raised “Why can’t we have a custom file template for things like test classes in the quick access menu?”…….well you can! Hooray!
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Jul
21
In light of another post I have done “Adding File Templates to the R# Quick Access Menu” I decided to make available some of the templates I have for others to use. Now I can’t just hand them over and expect you to know how to import them so here’s a guide.
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Nov
30
This post is just over a month late (Sorry 
) but I have been busy starting a new job and getting my coursework done so I hope you will understand. Anyway last month I co-presented my first presentation to members of the London Dot Net User Group at an Open mic night. The presentation was titled “Pair programming: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly” slide show found here. Read more…
