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 ‘Technology’ 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…)Why why API?
Posted in Technology, tagged api, single page app(SPA) on March 8, 2022| Leave a Comment »
I was looking at a page on the IBM website last week when something odd happened. Half the page loaded, then there was a spinning circle (a.k.a. a throbber) for a second or so, then the rest of the page loaded. The page itself is a few paragraphs of very boring text plus a menu. So why the drama with the throbber for a page like that?
(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…)Google Chrome OS – I don’t like it.
Posted in Technology on November 20, 2009| Leave a Comment »
There is more data about the Chrome OS in a snappy little video and a presentation. It very much looks as if the new OS from Google is a stripped-down Linux that boots up quickly into a web browser. It turns your Netbook into a web browsing appliance.
For a lot of people who are only really interested in email, Twitter and Facebook, this is great. I can definitely see where Google is coming from on this. It is simple and pretty foolproof for people who don’t really need a PC.
But I don’t like it.
The downside of this simplicity is that it is so limiting. It locks users into a limited set of applications and excludes the rich set of paid and free software out there.
I think this will be seen as a brilliant way for mobile networks to give away a web browser appliance to sell their broadband.
And I just don’t like it.
Sony and Apple going OLED?
Posted in Technology on November 19, 2009| Leave a Comment »
If you want an Apple tablet you will have to wait until next year. A wag pointed out in the Inquirer that “THE SECOND COMING of Apple’s Newton tablet, which has been hyped more than the return of Christ, is now looking equally delayed.” The interesting news is that the reason for the delay is that they are changing the screen to OLED technology (Organic LED).
This doesn’t mean that the screen is some tree-hugging new age stuff, just that it uses certain organic chemicals in its construction. The result is a screen that doesn’t need a back light, is much thinner and more flexible that existing screens and has better colours and contrast. In other words the best thing since LCDs.
These screens are not cheap of course, new technology never is, so they won’t be giving away the new tablets with your box of cornflakes.
Sony is looking at this too and is proposing a laptop without a keyboard. Isn’t that the same as a tablet?
So in ten years time will I take my laptop out of my pocket, unfold it to a big screen and keyboard and work away?
Maybe.
Ebooks
Posted in Technology on October 23, 2009| Leave a Comment »
There is a lot of activity on the ebook front. If you have not been following these developments, drop by your local Waterstones and try out a Sony ebook. You load up your book(s) and read on a screen, surprising like reading words on paper.
These gadgets use different technology for the screen. These (Electronic paper) screens have two really useful properties.
- You read them using ambient light rather than being back-lit which is much easier on the eye.
- They only use power when the screen changes, ideal for reading. Power consumption is minute.
You can carry a whole library around in a gadget about the size of a paperback.
I really like the reader gadgets, but haven’t bought one because (more…)
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