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RobB's Question about M/M/m
Today, user RobB left a comment on my recent blog post, asking this:I have some doubts on how valid an M/M/m model is in a typical database performance scenario. Taking the example from the wait...
View ArticleOn "Is a computer science degree a good goal?"
Dan Fink's "Is a computer science degree a good goal?" has gotten my wheels going. I think it's important to note this:Computer Science ≠ Information TechnologyNot only are these two disciplines not...
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The Ramp
I love stories about performance problems. Recently, my friend Debra Lilley sent me this one:I went to see a very large publishing company about 6 months after they went live. I asked them what their...
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Filter Early
Yesterday, my 12 year-old son Alex was excited to tell me that he had learned a new trick that made it easier to multiply fractions. Here’s the trick:The neat thing for me is that this week I’m working...
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Thinking Clearly is more important than the Right Answer
Have you ever met anyone who attracted your attention because he had the right idea, but the more you got to know how he arrived at that idea, the less attracted you felt?All our lives, we learn how...
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Mister Trace
For the past several weeks, my team at Method R have been working hard on a new software tool that we released today. It is an extension for Oracle SQL Developer called Method R Trace. We call it MR...
View ArticleMy OTN Interview at OOW2010 (which hasn’t happened yet)
Yesterday, Justin Kestelyn from Oracle Technology Network sent me a note specifying some logistics for our OTN interview together called “Coding for Performance, with Cary Millsap.” It will take place...
View ArticleNew Method R Blogs
Today we installed two new blogs over at our method-r.com web page. We created them to give us—all of us at Method R—a place to talk about our products and professional experiences. I hope you'll come...
View ArticleMy Actual OTN Interview
And now, the actual OTN interview (9:11) is online. Thank you, Justin; it was a lot of fun. And thank you to Oracle Corporation for another great show. It's an ever-growing world we work in, and I'm...
View ArticleBrown Noise in Written Language
Today’s email brought a loaf of spam with this in it:[Name withheld] is a world-class developer and provider of leading-edge solutions that help customers optimize the physical infrastructure through...
View ArticleBrown Noise in Written Language, Part 2
Here is some more thinking on the subject of brown noise in written language, stimulated by Joel Garry’s comment to my prior post. My point is not an appeal for more creative writing in the...
View ArticleAgile is Not a Dirty Word
While I was writing Brown Noise in Written Language, Part 2, twice I came across the word “agile.” First, the word “agility” was in the original sentence that I was criticizing. Joel Garry picked up on...
View ArticleVirtual Seminar: "Systematic Oracle SQL Optimization in Real Life"
On November 18 and 19, I’ll be presenting along with Tanel Põder, Jonathan Lewis, and Kerry Osborne in a virtual (GoToWebinar) seminar called Systematic Oracle SQL Optimization in Real Life. Here are...
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New paper "Mastering Performance with Extended SQL Trace"
Happy New Year.It’s been a busy few weeks. I finally have something tangible to show for it: “Mastering Performance with Extended SQL Trace” is the new paper I’ve written for this year’s RMOUG...
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An Axiomatic Approach to Algebra and Other Aspects of Life
Not many days pass that I don’t think a time or two about James R. Harkey. Mr. Harkey was my high school mathematics teacher. He taught me algebra, geometry, analytic geometry, trigonometry, and...
View ArticleDescribing Performance Improvements (Beware of Ratios)
Recently, I received into my Spam folder an ad claiming that a product could “...improve performance 1000%.” Claims in that format have bugged me for a long time, at least as far back as the 1990s,...
View ArticleIt’s Conference Season!
My favorite mode of life is being busy doing something that I enjoy and that I know, beyond a doubt, is the Right Thing to be doing. Any hour I get to spend in that zone is a precious gift.I’ve been in...
View ArticleWhy KScope?
Early this year, my friend Mike Riley from ODTUG asked me to write a little essay in response to the question, “Why Kscope?” that he could post on the ODTUG blog. He agreed that cross-posting would...
View ArticleUsing Agile Practices to Create an Agile Presentation
What’s the best way to make a presentation on Agile practices? Practice Agile practices.You could write a presentation “big bang” style, delivering version 1.0 in front of your big audience of 200+...
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I Can Help You Trace It
The first product I ever created after leaving Oracle Corporation in 1999 was a 3-day course about optimizing Oracle performance. The experiences of teaching this course from 2000 through 2003 (heavily...
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