Martin Heller's blog

Taking the black art out of SQL tuning

Martin Heller — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 11:00:00 +0000

As any database admin knows, mastering the subtler nuances of SQL can be likened to the black arts. For me, tuning the efficiency of SQL queries on large, heavily used databases is a perfect example.

Sure, I know how to use the query analysis tools built into SQL Server and Oracle -- but even with them, optimizing SQL still requires me to monitor queries during heavy load to find out whether I've truly fixed the code, without introducing new problems in the process.

Windows 7 driver support remains dicey

Martin Heller — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 10:00:00 +0000

Back in July, when there were premature rumors of Windows 7's RTM, I observed that my 64-bit desktop couldn't scan from my HP networked all-in-one printer, although it could print.

Windows 7's speech recognition is not half bad

Martin Heller — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 10:00:00 +0000

Last week I had a temporary problem typing. As I was writing to deadline, I was less than pleased by the prospect of being unable to do my work.

Many years ago -- I think I was running Windows 98 SE at the time -- I had a different problem (incipient carpal tunnel syndrome) that required an extended break from mouse and keyboard use. At that time, the two viable options were from IBM and Dragon; I got a special dictation headset microphone and a copy of Dragon, spent hours training it, and was able to do my work for the next few weeks without aggravating my wrists.

Windows 7 should fare better than Vista on corporate PCs

Martin Heller — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 10:00:00 +0000

Corporate PCs are three times more likely to be equipped to run Windows 7 than had been capable of running Windows Vista when the often-maligned OS was released.

Or at least that is what Softchoice, an IT management company, is reporting about the 450,000 corporate PCs it manages.

Inside Silverlight 3

Martin Heller — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 19:52:52 +0000

While I have mixed feelings about Silverlight as compared to AJAX, HTML 5, Flash, and Flex, I still think it's great technology, and I wouldn't hesitate to build a Silverlight user interface, a Silverlight media viewer, or a Silverlight graphical display. I think that anyone who has had exposure to Windows Presentation Foundation and is comfortable working with Visual Studio and Expression Blend can easily pick up Silverlight.

EOL for Microsoft's Visual SourceSafe

Martin Heller — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 21:14:58 +0000

I don't know about you, but I haven't used a shared installation of Visual SourceSafe for years -- well, except for that cranky 10-year-old staging Web site I'd rather not think about. So when Microsoft announced Visual SourceSafe is on an "end of life" track in favor of TFS Basic, a new, low-end version of Team Foundation Server, I wasn't particularly surprised.

Drag-and-drop designer creates Flex from Visual Studio

Martin Heller — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 10:00:00 +0000

Last December, I mentioned that SapphireSteel Software is planning to release an IDE for Adobe Flex and AIR that integrates into Microsoft Visual Studio. Now, an interesting beta of this tool, Amethyst, is shipping.

Screen-sharing application Glance simplifies Web demos

Martin Heller — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 10:00:00 +0000

As a journalist, I frequently view Web demos, using every conceivable technology. GoToMeeting? Check. WebEx? Check. LiveMeeting? Check. Glance? Check.

[ Keep up with app dev issues and trends with InfoWorld's Fatal Exception and Strategic Developer. ]

New Sybase PowerBuilder 12 requires little coding

Martin Heller — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 10:00:00 +0000

As InfoWorld's Paul Krill reported in mid-August, Sybase is beta-testing PowerBuilder 12, which features a rewritten PowerBuilder DataWindow technology that offers native support of Microsoft's WPF (Windows Presentation Foundation), Windows Forms, and Web Forms (ASP.Net).

Can productivity tools combine with outsourcing?

Martin Heller — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 15:52:22 +0000

Over the last few months, I've supervised a group of offshore outsourcers who were using a very productive IDE that was new to them for one project; I also used the IDE myself for another project.