April 2005 - Posts

• Why you shouldn't compress SQL Server data and log files

  Most knowledgable SQL Server DBAs know you shouldn't compress a database's data and log files, but I'll wager that few know the details behind why that's such a bad idea. The general reply might be "Performance" -- and that's correct -- but the assumption Read More... Posted Monday, April 25, 2005 1:54 PM by khen1234 | 13 Comments

• Subtle bugs #2

  Came across this in some code recently. The code excerpt below is part of a larger cmd line application that can be run as both a console app and a service. One of the things it can do is start other processes, optionally trapping their output in a file Read More... Posted Monday, April 25, 2005 1:19 PM by khen1234 | 0 Comments

• Barnes & Noble promotion

  <shameless_promotion> Addison-Wesley has asked me to mention that B&N is doing a big promotion of my SQL Server books right now. I believe the figure they cited was a 40% discount, IIRC. Check with B&N for the details. So, if you're interested Read More... Posted Friday, April 22, 2005 12:45 AM by khen1234 | 0 Comments

• Why .NET is the best thing to happen to software since OOP, Part II

  I didn't really finish the discussion of what I began in this blog , so I'll do so today. Why do I think .NET is the best thing to happen to software since OOP? Several reasons: 1. Based on what the market has said, software for the PC and for Windows Read More... Posted Tuesday, April 19, 2005 11:47 AM by khen1234 | 5 Comments

• My other blog is a Mercedes

  For those who don't already know about it, I blog about non-technical things on MSN Spaces at http://spaces.msn.com/members/khen1234 . I'm reserving my MSDN blogs for technical topics, so if you want to read some more of my random ramblings, check out Read More... Posted Sunday, April 17, 2005 3:15 PM by khen1234 | 0 Comments

• Stalled/stuck I/O and SQL Server 2000 SP4

  Service Pack 4 for SQL Server 2000, due out any day now, has a number of new features oriented toward making the product easier to support. One of these is the new detection and reporting of stalled or stuck I/O operations. A stalled I/O is an I/O operation Read More... Posted Sunday, April 17, 2005 3:07 PM by khen1234 | 2 Comments

• Why .NET is the best thing to happen to software since OOP

  I read a blog by Mark Russinovich the other day that disturbed me a bit. It always bothers me when someone as highly regarded as Mark completely misses the boat because it means that a lot of other people will probably miss the boat, too. People often Read More... Posted Sunday, April 17, 2005 1:36 PM by khen1234 | 20 Comments

• To VB or not to VB: VB.NET or C# -- which one should you choose?

  I get asked pretty often which of these two languages I prefer. I prefer C#. But which one should you choose? That depends. * If you have lots of legacy VB code, VB.NET may be a better choice. VB.NET is a full-featured language and rivals C# in features Read More... Posted Thursday, April 14, 2005 12:10 AM by khen1234 | 4 Comments

• Subtle bugs #1

  From time-to-time, I'm going to post a code snippet with a subtle bug in it for people interested in tracking down such things. Here's the first one (C/C++): TCHAR g_szFoo[10]; void CopyArg(TCHAR * pszArg) { _tcsncpy(g_szFoo, pszArg, (sizeof g_szFoo) Read More... Posted Wednesday, April 13, 2005 11:55 PM by khen1234 | 3 Comments

• Does it make sense to build MFC GUI apps anymore?

  For most developers, I think the answer has to be "No," especially with the advent of managed code. Some would argue that the answer has been "No" for a long time. Tools like VB made GUI development so much easier than it ever was with MFC that many gave Read More... Posted Wednesday, April 13, 2005 11:26 PM by khen1234 | 5 Comments

• Yukon's management tools

  As the creator of a few SQL Server-specific tools myself (Sequin, DataPipe, etc.), I have some fairly strong opinions on what type of functionality the tools that come in the white box with SQL Server should have, particularly the GUI apps. At a high Read More... Posted Wednesday, April 13, 2005 10:00 PM by khen1234 | 3 Comments

• Availability of the Yukon editions of my books

  People have been emailing me quite a bit about when my SQL Server books will be updated for SQL Server 2005. Good news: they will be in print this Monday. Important details: 1. All three books have grown to over 1200 pages each. This is as much due to Read More... Posted Friday, April 01, 2005 2:10 PM by khen1234 | 7 Comments