Database

Or: The Most Impressive T-SQL Script I’ve Ever Written

I was recently working on a new application. After three months in the field, users were starting to complain about performance issues. We had done some limited performance tuning for the first release, and more as part of the second release, but new issues were popping up as more data got entered into the system. We could have continued fixing issues as they came up, one release at a time, but we wanted to get ahead of the problem, and the client wanted to know that the system would remain usable without developer intervention for a few years at least.

I’m working on the code that parses VCalendar data so that it can be processed. I’m copying the data I care about into a simple data structure that can represent a calendar request in any format. Any logic that interacts with calendar requests would use this internal structure. I want it to be simple, only having the stuff that I need, but I don’t want to completely re-invent the wheel either, so I will use the VCalendar format as a guideline.

My wife and I have been taking a Japanese class. I’m enjoying it quite a bit, even though learning languages has never been easy for me. I need to work hard to memorize all the new words, and that means lots and lots of practice.

My wife bought a pack of index cards. This is what a normal person would do. To me, it seems like defeat. Why use paper when there’s a computer in the room? While she’s at the store, I grab a white board and sketch out a data model.