Databases

Junk DNA – Junk Oracle, part 0000002

Most high level programming languages implement a selection control mechanism whereby a variable can be used to control program execution via. a multiway ...Read more

Junk DNA – Junk Oracle, part 0000001

Not so many years ago, junk DNA was thought of as the DNA remnants from some evolutionary path, perhaps where we had fewer ...Read more

Oracle MERGE: Elegantly updating to a sequential version number

It is often important to have a sequential version number (or other value such a credit note or invoice number) associated with piece of ...Read more

Oracle MERGE: Elegantly updating KVP lookups in a database

Storing key-value-pair (KVP) look-up information in a database is pretty routine stuff. There's normally a simple table with a key and a value, as ...Read more

1NF and preservation of database result-set ordering through a database driver

According to the basics of relational theory, and specifically First Normal Form (1NF), a relation is unordered. Put another way, in theory there ...Read more

ANSI SQL/Foundation

I have believed for some time that the SQL FROM clause is optional, that is optional from the standpoint of ANSI/IEC/ISO standards, not from ...Read more

Database table column aliasing, and coding standards

Here's a question I posed to myself recently, during a database code maintenance/upgrade cycle. Can adding a column to the underlying database table break ...Read more

Querying database table columns that don’t exist

I had a recent client request that, distilled down to its very basics, was 'could you please write some example code that demonstrates ...Read more