Database

In my recent post about the Left-Prefix Index Rule, I explained how queries can use all or part of a compound (multi-column) index. Knowing what makes an index fully usable…

There’s an important heuristic in database indexing that I call the left-prefix rule. It helps you understand whether the database will be able to make the best use of a…

A covering index is a fantastic query performance optimization. An index covers a query when the index has all the data needed to execute the query, so the server can…

Databases have a kind of iron triangle for specific types of query plans, whereby they can pick between two out of three things but can’t get all three of them.…

Databases are confusing! Not only are they complicated bits of software, but database jargon is really complicated. Part of this comes from the number of words with multiple meanings: depending…

If there’s one thing I’ve learned in my decades as a data professional, it’s this: Things aren’t what you think they are. Data’s ultimate purpose is to drive decisions. But our…

If you use a programming language framework such as Django or Ruby on Rails, chances are you use an ORM to help you construct queries. What’s an ORM? If you’re…

IT pros are discovering a smarter way to manage servers.​ In this episode, Microsoft Cloud advocate Phoummala Schmitt (@ExchangeGoddess), Head Geek™ and 10-year Microsoft MVP Thomas LaRock, and Head Geek…

The conservation of quantum information is a theory that information can neither be created nor destroyed. Stephen Hawking used this theory to explain how a black hole does not consume…

“Too many secrets.” – Martin Bishop One of the pivotal moments in the movie Sneakers is when Martin Bishop realizes that they have a device that can break any encryption…