My COVID lockdown project is a system to keep a database updated called SUDSJS. I am using it to check out different database management systems (DBMS). The latest is CouchDB – and I like it
(more…)Archive for the ‘Still-coding’ Category
I tried CouchDB and I like it
Posted in Still-coding, Technology, tagged CouchDB, Database, NOSQL on November 10, 2022| Leave a Comment »
Firestore didn’t go well for me.
Posted in Still-coding, Technology, tagged Database, Firestore, NOSQL on October 11, 2022| Leave a Comment »
I decided to use my lockdown project SUDSJS.com to test out a few different NOSQL database management systems (DBMS).
SUDSJS is written in JavaScript using the node.js server-side system and I designed it so that I could plug in different drivers for different databases. I wrote database drivers for MySQL, SQLite 3 and PostgreSQL. The first NOSQL system I tried was MongoDB, and the SUDSJS.com test site is currently running using this (correction – it is now running on CouchDB). The second NOSQL system I tried was Firestore from Google.
It didn’t go well.
(more…)Database design – SQL vs NOSQL examples
Posted in Still-coding, Technology, tagged Database, MongoDB, NOSQL, SQL, sudsjs on September 29, 2022| Leave a Comment »
For the last 50 years there has been one and only one way of designing a database. SQL Database management systems (DBMS) have been the uncontested standard. (A better name is ‘relational’ because SQL is just the name of the language used to access them, but we will stick with it.)
But things have changed in the last 10-15 years. Databases that disobey relational rules are coming into vogue. The term NOSQL is used for these non-relational databases (the above chart is work in progress, but I have been looking at these systems.)
What is the difference between classic databases and this new breed?
Handling data consistency in a Document Database
Posted in Still-coding, Technology, tagged MongoDB, NOSQL on May 17, 2022| Leave a Comment »
You know what an invoice looks like. We have all seen thousands of them – probably too many. But invoices illustrate an interesting problem – and I am not talking about your VAT return. I am talking about the new kids on the database block – document databases. An example is MongoDB. These can store all the data for one invoice in a single structured record (called a ‘document’).
(more…)Lost in MongoDB: Learning to Aggregate
Posted in Still-coding, Technology, tagged MongoDB, NOSQL, SQL on April 5, 2022| Leave a Comment »
I am getting to the end of stage one in writing a database driver for MongoDB to use in my Lockdown Project sudsjs.com. All has gone well until I get to totalling up a field in the database. I had to enter the wonderful world of aggregation, which is powerful function-rich and confusing.
(more…)Will NOSQ replace SQL?
Posted in Still-coding, Technology, tagged MongoDB, NOSQL, SQL on March 1, 2022| Leave a Comment »
NOSQL databases like MongoDB are making a big splash in the computer industry. But are they set to replace the tried and tested technology of the past fifty years?
Here is my take on it, with a bit of history thrown in.
(more…)Returning to coding 10 years later. A lot has happened.
Posted in Still-coding on February 25, 2022| Leave a Comment »
As you get older (I’m 80) your brain slows down. This is a well-known fact. The defence against this is to keep it active and learn a new skill. I tried a new language (Spanish), but it turns out that if you are really bad at languages in your youth you are God-awfully bad in later years. So, I turned to something I did have a talent for – coding.
As we were stuck indoors anyway, courtesy of Covid, I thought I would update my knowledge of JavaScript, and something called Node.
(more…)Key websites for business planning
Posted in Still-coding on November 30, 2009| Leave a Comment »
Someone just asked me two important questions:
- How much traffic should I get on my website
- How many of them will buy something
Two good questions to ask when business planning. A couple of resources that will help you with some numbers.
- Statbrain (http://www.statbrain.com/) will give you an idea of traffic levels at competitors sites. The most commonly used resource is Alexa but I think statbrain gives better numbers. There are some more here.
- The Fireclick index (http://index.fireclick.com/) will give you an idea of conversion rates by industry sector. Another place to go is Coremetrics.
These are all guesstimates, so don’t expect consistency.
Can you explain Google wave in 140 characters
Posted in Still-coding on November 25, 2009| Leave a Comment »
The twittersphere is currently awash with Google Wave offers of invites and requests for invites. Lots of people want to try it.
Amongst them was this tweet: “Can someone please inform me on the signifigance of the Google Wave? What exactly is it?”
So your next task if you decide to accept it, is to explain Google wave as a tweet, max 140 characters. Once I have done that I plan to summarise War and Peace as a tweet – probably easier.
Peak oil is coming
Posted in Still-coding on October 26, 2009| Leave a Comment »
I find it absolutely amazing the way the human race is sleep-walking into a couple of related disasters. Our children are going to ask ‘what were they thinking of’.
Firstly we all know about the half-hearted attempts by our government to address climate change. The other highly related issue is peak oil.
We have known for years that oil production in any system follows a bell-shaped production curve (the Hubbert curve – check out ‘peak oil’ in Wikipedia). This means that inevitably the world’s production will reach a peak and then slowly decline. If you think abut it for 10 minutes that is pretty obvious. If oil demand continues to rise then the inevitable result is a rapid rise in the oil price, shortages, and a major economic crisis.
When will this happen? Expert opinion varies from ‘it is happening now’ to ‘after 2030’. The UK Energy Research Council says around 2020.
This is after the next election, so the politicians obviously don’t need to bother with this. There are much more urgent problems.
Someone needs to teach them the difference between ‘urgent’ and ‘important’. Not taking action now has consequences.
The solution to the climate change issue and the peak oil issue is the same. Renewable energy and nuclear. It would be nice to say no nuclear, but we have ignored this issue for so long that a nuclear period is probably inevitable. If the crisis is coming in ten years we need to give this serious attention and do something serious now.
Bob Browning's blog 