The Way I See It

Sublime Text 2

Thu, 03 Jan 2013 13:39:08 -0500

I had been using Dreamweaver for development as long as I can remember; 10 years at least. When I started my new job 6 months ago I was told that nearly all the ColdFusion developers used it and it was no big deal to get a license. However, not too much later I got the itch to try a new editor. I saw some tweets concerning Package Control – once you have this installed, you have a resource within ST2 to install and manage a vast array of plugins. From with the package manager I installed: ColdFusion for CF syntax functionality. Automatic Backups. This is awesome. When you save a file, a backup will be saved to a local folder. It's almost like having a built in versioning system. This works great for me at work because all our development files are stored on the network. Recently a snafu occurred and an important folder was deleted. Backups were restored from the night before, but because of automatic backups I had a backup of all my work from up to a few minutes ago. BracketHighlighter can be good for keeping your sanity. When you highlight an opening brace, bracket or parenthesis, it will highlight the closing match for it. If you do work in javascript or jquery, I would consider this a must have! TrailingSpaces is something small with a big impact, for me. All it does is highlight any time a line ends in a space. This may seem like nothing, but we have a standard that specifically addresses this. If a line of code ends with a space, you will fail your code review. So this is a great frustation saver. If you are frustrated with your current IDE/editor or just looking for something different give Sublime Text 2 a shot. I don't think you will be disappointed.

Resolutions for 2013

Mon, 31 Dec 2012 11:56:00 -0500

2012 certainly flew by. After reviewing my resolutions and seeing that I was pretty successful I have decided to write down a few for the coming year. In no particular order I give you: Scott's 2013 New Year's Resolutions.- Blog more. I know why I slacked on this in the last year: I felt my voice was echoing in an empty chamber. No one was listening. But that misses the point. This is for me. This is about me developing MY voice. About working through things that are on MY mind. Like someone once said, "fuck 'em if they can't take a joke". Read it or don't. Like it or hate it. That's not my concern. - Keep getting better. I've grown quite a bit as a man and a developer over the last year. I want to continue that growth. - Get fit. I slimmed down in 2012. Now it's time to continue that trend and do more than just lose weight. I want to get fit. I want to feel comfortable and confident in my clothes (and out of them). - Keep Saving. My savings came in handy on more than one occassion in the last year. It is nice knowing that a) I am not living paycheck to paycheck and b) when emergencies arise, I can handle them financially because I was prepared. - Keep cooking but learn better portion control. My food is good and mostly healthy but I recognize that if I can better control my portions, then my goal of getting fit will come that much sooner. I also want to explore new foods that I haven't tried before. - Take vacations. While I love my family and friends, going for a visit does not count. I will have 2 weeks of paid vacation time. Ashley will have some time as well. There is no excuse for not taking a few days and going/doing something. Right now, as the winds gust outside and the temperature hovers in the 30's, I thinking the beach sounds mighty good. But you may notice I said vacations, plural. We live just a few hours from the Atlantic ocean. As spring and summer roll around, I would like to take some mini-vacations and get away to the beach for the weekend. There they are, my 6 goals for the coming year. Sitting here, at the computer, I see no reason to fail at any of them. Like a wise man once said, "if want you want exceeds your grasp, find a way to lengthen your arm". Of course, by that same token, if everything you want is within your grasp you can't grow.

Furniture Shopping

Mon, 31 Dec 2012 09:49:00 -0500

We went furniture shopping this weekend. It started out as more of a lark than a planned excursion. For the last several years the only real furniture I had to sit on was a couch left over from a living room suite I bought 10 years ago. Sure, I had an office chair for my desk and after my Dad gave us a kitchen table, we had a couple more chairs. But for the most part, when Ashley and I sat down for the evening, we sat side-by-side with the 3 dogs taking up the remaining 1/3 of the couch. Although this is cozy, it gets annoying too. For example, if one of us wants to take a nap, the other has nowhere to sit! So we really needed to expand our seating options.So, as I said, we went furniture shopping. We went to 5 stores on Saturday. At La-Z-Boy we found a sofa/loveseat pair we really liked and it was within our price range. Of course, it was out of stock and not expected to be available for 6 months. Apparently we have great taste just like everyone else! While there we also found a leather sectional that was really nice but a little expensive. The sales associate informed us that the price, though already marked down, was still flexible. She worked her magic but after adding back in delivery & warranty the price came down about $15. I found it funny that when she gave us the price the look Ashley and I shared was one of simultaneous "oh, well, I didn't like it THAT much". So we continued our search. But after not finding anything by 5:00 we called it a day. We still needed to figure out supper and wanted to go to the movies at 7:00. Sunday awoke around 10:00am holding the promise of leisure. I had only 2 things on my agenda: grocery shopping and video games. The first was easy: in, out and done. The second had to wait almost 9 hours. After getting the groceries and eating some pretty good homemade meatball subs we started talking furniture again. Before you know it we were putting our coats on and heading out the door to return to one of the stores we visited Saturday. We walked what must have been miles around the 58,000 sq ft showroom. "Did we look at this one yet?" "What do you think of this?" "That's pretty, but not for us." Then we found it: a contemporary leather sectional with a chaise on one end. The price seemed right and we were excited. But, we thought, with the price as low as it is and the financing option of 0% interest over 48 months, could we also find a new bedroom suite as well? So we kept looking and kept walking. Then it happened. We had picked out a couch and a bedroom suite (dresser w/mirror, chest and queen-sized bed) with new mattress and box springs (necessary for upgrading from our full-sized bed) and started mentally crunching the numbers. Boy did those numbers get large quick. As the numbers increased the excitement waned and the nerves kicked in. Ashley knows I can't deny her anything. If this was what she really wanted, I would do whatever I could to make it happen. But boy, those numbers were big. As we wondered and thought about it we came across something we are sure we hadn't seen before: a brown, leather sofa & loveseat set. It fit our style. It was comfortable. It was long enough for me to lie down, stretch out and take a nap. It was cheaper than the other couch! Maybe we could work this out after all! We attacked the numbers with new vigor. If we don't get the nightstand in the bedroom suite, that price will come down without losing value (we have bedside tables). If we opt for 36 months of interest free financing, we can get a 10% discount on everything! Just like that, the clouds parted, the sun shone down and 3 hours after walking into the store we had a deal. After not splurging on each other for Xmas we bought ourselves comfort, relaxation and a good night's sleep for years to come. Everything will be delivered in a couple of weeks and we are extremely excited. We got a nice bonus when we realized that we paid almost the same for the living room AND bedroom together as we would paid for that sectional at La-Z-Boy. Now we have to find a place for the "old" couch in my office and actually clean up the stuff we dumped into the spare bedroom. But it will feel very satisfying to have that room ready for guests. For the first time that I can remember, I have real room for guests and it feels like I am thinking about more than just immediate comforts and needs. Now, who's coming for a visit?

New Years 2013

Fri, 28 Dec 2012 14:14:00 -0500

As 2012 winds down, I'm sitting here thinking about last year's resolutions. I honestly can't remember what a single one was! Thankfully, I wrote them down on this very site. I thought it would be a good exercise to list them here and comment on whether or not I was successful. Given that I don't even remember what they are, I am not feeling too optimistic. Maybe at the end, I will have some thoughts on the coming year.So, let's get started! It started with: "Get back on P90X": I don't know that I would call this a success. I DID workout with P90X several times over the course of the last year. Often for 2-3 weeks at a time. But I never really stuck with it or completed another full round. However, I did manage to lose more weight and that was the ultimate goal. Next up: "find a job". SUCCESS! In June I accepted a Coldfusion Engineer position with a private company in North Carolina. "Live happy": I believe this is more or less successful. The goal was to "work to live" not the other way around. Now, when I come home, work stays at work. I do still check my email a couple times a night. But I no longer feel compelled to immediately take action for fear of the world coming to an end. "Be better": As with the previous resolution, I think this too is more or less of a success. I hope my sisters would agree that I have been a better brother. I think I did alright as a friend. Over the last few months I know I have grown in my professional life as well as my personal. My friends on Facebook & Twitter would agree I have at least been more outspoken as a citizen; that may mean better. Looks like I am half-way through the list and looking pretty good. "Laugh daily" : Lol! I believe I have been successful here. "Cook deliciousness": Definite success! I cook supper 6 nights a week. We have found new ways to incorporate vegetables into our meals and I know I've done well when Ashley asks me to make something again (or gives me that pouty face because it is all gone). "Save & invest": Success again! Although I had to dip into those savings during my hiatus from employment my first paycheck re-started the contributions. With a 401K, an IRA, a trading account and a savings account, I think I'm working this resolution for all it is worth. Finally, "spend more time outside": Technically, I could claim success on this one. When I moved to North Carolina, Ashley moved with me; as did her 3 dogs. Since we work together and take them outside for "business" and the occassional walk, I AM spending more time outdoors. Unfortunately, I have to fail myself on this one. We have a swimming pool 1 block from our townhouse and I have yet to even visit it once in six months! I didn't even put 1000 miles on my motorcycle! Big fail. Well, 7 out 8 is not too shabby. Looking back, I guess I had more success in 2012 than I thought. However, one resolution I should have made but didn't was to keep writing. I failed big time at writing my thoughts and ideas. The why for that may be its own post one day. For now, I think it is safe to say my 2013 Resolutions list will start with that: blog.

New Server

Sun, 30 Sep 2012 18:17:00 -0500

If you are seeing this entry, then this site has successfully moved to its new server! Woohoo!

Chili Time!

Thu, 13 Sep 2012 20:41:00 -0500

It's starting to get cooler and football season has begun. Just like simple math everyone knows those two things add up to equal CHILI. I made my first batch last weekend and promised a friend I would share my recipe. Being a man of my word, here it is. Of course, there is no end to the ways to make chili. Some people have a no beans policy. Some use a ketchup base. Some insist on adding spaghetti. The good thing is there is no wrong way to make chili, only better ways. So, let define MY chili so that we are on the same page from the outset:

MY Chili must have beans and ground beef.
MY Chili must have some peppers in it.
MY Chili must be thick and hearty, not watery like soup.
MY Chili must have some kick. It doesn't have to be able to peel paint, but it should certainly let my tongue know it is there.

With that established, let's make with the cookin'!

Ingredients:

2 packages of McCormick Chili mix (I prefer hot, but mild is available)
1 lb ground Chuck (80/20)
1 32oz can of tomato sauce
1 can dark kidney beans
1 can light kidney beans
1 can chili beans (I like Bush's in hot sauce)
1 medium white onion
1 Red Bell Pepper
1 Green Bell Pepper
mix of spicy peppers depending on your own preference
kosher salt
pepper
chili powder
garlic powder
onion powder
red cayenne pepper
cumin

This chili could not be simpler. Start by browning the ground beef over a medium heat. I like a good angus chuck (80/20). You want some fat to bring out the flavor. While the beef is browning, let's get the base simmering. Into a large pot (I use a 6 quart stock pot) over a low-medium heat pour a 32oz can of plain tomato sauce (not spaghetti sauce). Fill the can just under half-full with water and add it. This sauce will thicken quite a bit as it cooks. This is good as it will help concentrate the flavors. If the chili is too thick for your liking, you can always add a little water AFTER it is finished to thin it out. Now I add the 3 cans of beans, including the liquid. Now come the spices. Honestly, I eyeball it, but you want at least a tablespoon of the onion powder, garlic powder, cumin, cayenne pepper and chili powder. Also add both packets of McCormick's chili mix. Don't forget a hefty pinch of kosher salt and some fresh cracked pepper. Give it a good stir and get it will mixed. Now for the veggies. Wash and finely chop all the peppers and onion and add them to the pot. If you opted to include spicier peppers or chilis, take the necessary precautions! If you end up in the hospital because you rubbed your eye with habanero juice on your fingers you will miss out on the chili! I typically use a couple of habeneros, a couple of jalepenos, a couple of serranos, a couple of anaheims and a couple of poblanos. They not only provide a nice flavor and kick but all the green makes for a better looking bowl! If you are one of those people that likes tomatoes in their chili, now would be the time to add your tomato chunks. Once you beef is cooked through add it into the pot as well. Now comes the hardest part. For the next 3 hours, let it simmer but not boil with the lid mostly covering the pot, and stir it every few minutes to keep it from burning to the bottom of the pot. I leave the lid off enough to let some steam escape, thus reducing the water and concentrating the flavors. When that 3 hour bell dings, your chili is ready. Like I said, if it is too thick for your liking, you can through a cup of water into the microwave for a couple of minutes and then pour it in slowly, while stirring, to loosen it up. Don't pour a cup of cold water in! It won't mix right and will bring down the temperature of your fresh chili. I always serve my chili with oyster crackers and a shredded "mexican" cheese blend on top. They act as a cooling agent so you get the heat, but you won't die from it. Now that my secret is out, if you try it, let me know what you think!

Just an idea

Wed, 25 Apr 2012 16:01:00 -0500

I have an "out of the box" idea for economic recovery: Raise the tax rate on anyone making over $2 million a year to 30%. This is only a 2% increase over the current rate. Then make any person with income under $30K (for single filers, $50K for couples) pursuing a first college degree, with a 8 hours minimum class load, exempt from federal taxes.By making them exempt, instead of a "tax rebate" once a year, they would not be paying in from each check and would have more money on-hand to spend. These individuals would still be paying local city and state taxes where applicable, as well as social security. I know, I know. The argument against it is that you would be taking from the "rich" and giving to the "poor". But I disagree. Look at it as the country (or even those companies) making an investment in the future. All the studies show that, on average, college educated people make more money over the course of their lifetime than their less-educated brethren. They will make more money, so they will pay more in taxes in the future. In exchange for 4-5 years of not collecting taxes at 15% on low income you get an individual paying for 30+ years at 25% or higher for a higher overall income. That's a pretty good swap, if you ask me. Not coincidentally is the effect on the immediate economy. There are about 20 million college students. If you leave a couple hundred dollars per month in their pockets they will spend it. They will buy goods and services and pay bills. Honestly, the small number of multimillionaires whose tax was increased are simply incapable of pouring that kind of spending back into the economy. The increased consumption will lead to more jobs and more money back into the pockets of the rich corporations. Another benefit is a reduction in "safety net" benefits. Students with families on welfare and food stamps will need less of these benefits and will begin contributing more "free market" money into the economy instead of just recycling tax dollars. Make working your way through college just a little easier, put millions of dollars into the economy from people who are yearning to spend it and reduce the amount of social welfare spending from the government. That sounds like a winning idea to me.

New favorite breakfast

Thu, 08 Mar 2012 11:26:00 -0500

They say breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Still, I used to skip it regularly. Until I started making my ultimate breakfast sandwich. It's basically an egg mcmuffin, only healthier. It takes less than 5 minutes to make and I can even get it going and walk away for a couple of minutes without worrying. What's in it: English muffin, split and toasted 1 egg 1 slice Swiss cheese 2 slices Canadian bacon How simple is this? Fry the egg over medium heat to your personal preference of wellness. I usually prefer my yolks firm. While the egg is frying, slip the Canadian bacon into the same pan to heat. When you are ready to flip your egg, flip the meat. Assemble by placing 1 slice of Canadian bacon on the bottom of the English muffin. Place the cheese slice on top, then the egg, then the other bacon slice and finally the toasted top. By sandwiching (pun intended) the cheese between the warm bacon and egg, it should start to melt on its own. This version is healthier than the McVersion because the ingredients are fresh and contain no fillers or by-products. But also Swiss cheese is a healthier alternative to processed American cheese. A leaner version could use a turkey-based alternative like turkey-bacon in place of the Canadian bacon. Here are a couple of alternative versions that would be just as delicious: -instead of Canadian bacon, use regular bacon or sausage -instead of a fried egg, use scrambled -add veggies to the scrambled egg, like an omelet -experiment with various cheeses If you don't care about "healthier" double the meat and add a helping of Hollandaise sauce or gravy! Whatever the variation, this breakfast will hit the spot. Oh, and the cost per sandwich is less than hitting the drive-thru.

Beef Tips and Noodles

Sat, 04 Feb 2012 16:31:00 -0500

Last night I cooked a delicious meal: Beef Tips and Noodles. It was so good, I have to write about it!My mom used to cook a roast in a pressure cooker and make a simple brown gravy and mix it with wide noodles. I used to purchase Hormel pre-cooked beef roast in gravy and mix it with said noodles. My method was much quicker, but not quite as tasty. Last night's recipe was a little impromptu but went like this:

Ingredients

1 lb cubed stew beef 2 cups beef stock 1/2 cup water 3 tbsp all-purpose flour 1 tbsp worcestershire sauce 1 tbsp deli mustard 3-5 bay leaves 1 tsp finely chopped tarragon 3 tbsp vegetable oil 2 tbsp butter 6-8oz wide egg noodles salt and pepper to taste

Beef

Heat the vegetable oil in a deep, 12-inch pan over medium-high heat. Add the stew beef and brown, about 3 minutes each side.

Sauce

After the beef is fully browned pour out about half of any oil or juices still in the pan. If I had them, I would have added a 1/2 cup of diced portobello mushrooms and 1/4 cup of finely chopped white onion to the pan and cook them for a couple of minutes before continuing. Turn the heat to medium and, keeping the beef in the pan, add the butter. Allow the butter to melt and then add the flour. Stir the flour, beef and butter until the flour and butter have combined and begun to brown. Allow this mixture to cook for a minute, stirring to prevent burning. Add the beef stock and water and stir until well blended with the butter/flour mixture (called a roux). Cover and cook over medium heat until boiling. Give it another stir and continue boiling for about 5 minutes. Stir again (lots of stirring in this recipe) and turn down the heat to medium-low. Now add the bay leaves, tarragon, mustard, worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper. Stir to incorporate these new ingredients. Your sauce should be smooth with a glossy, light brown color. Continue cooking for about 35 minutes, stirring every few minutes. The sauce will reduce down and become thicker. After the 35 minutes, begin cooking your noodles according to the directions on the package. By the time your noodles are cooked, your meat and sauce will have simmered for about an hour your beef should be tender and your sauce will be quite thick. Now would be a great time to sneak a taste and add more salt or pepper, if necessary. Before you drain your noodles add about 1/3 cup of the pasta water to the beef and sauce, stir well. This starchy water will help the sauce adhere to the noodles. Now drain your noodles and add them into your pan with the beef and sauce. Stir the deliciousness around to cover all the noodles with the delicious sauce. Simmer for a couple of minutes to make sure all the flavors get a chance to incorporate and are at the same temperature. Serve hot and enjoy.

Why your site is slow

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 16:18:00 -0500

As a web developer I want my projects to accomplish 2 things. I want to exceed the expectations of my client and provide the user with a good experience. A lot of developers get into the mindset of "if it works, I'm done". They don't take the opportunity to make sure the users are going to have a good experience. I don't blame them. It's tedious to test compatibility and boring to make sure your error catching gracefully handles issues that may arise. But, ironically, a slow load time can quickly ruin a users website experience. I break load-time into 2 categories: real and perceived. Real load-time is the actual time it takes all elements and scripting to be 100% loaded and ready. Perceived load-time is the wait-time a user experiences before they can start using a site. A "fast" site optimizes for the former, while exploiting the latter. So, here are 3 things techniques I use to affect page load-time without affecting my coding.

(Image) Size Matters

"I'm a developer, not a graphic designer!" This may be true, but I'm the one building the project. Therefore it is my responsibility to know about ALL facets of the project, including images. I can't draw a straight line, but I know the fundamentals of using images on the web. For me, the most important rule for graphics is: the smaller the better. Each byte the user has to download adds wait time to the user's experience. Users do not come to websites to wait. My friend Justin, a top-rate designer, explained to me one day that when he is working in Illustrator or Photoshop his raw files could be a GIGABYTE or more in file size. This explains why designers sometimes have no problem sending me images that are 200K. By comparison, it's tiny! But 200K takes time to download. If I could get that image down to 20K (still larger than I would ideally prefer) the download time is dropped considerably, as is the user's wait time. This is not just about the user either. From the server's perspective, a reduced file-size is less data it has to send to each user. If you remove 180K from one image that savings is multiplied by each time the file gets requested and sent to a browser. This can by thousands or even millions of times over the life of that single image. Now consider that you may reduce the file-size of multiple images and imagine the reduced workload on your server! This simple change makes your pages load faster and frees up the server's overall bandwidth to allow it to handle more requests. This optimization addresses both the real and perceived load-time objectives! There are several tools and sites that help in shrinking images down. One I like to use is Yahoo's Smush.it. I provide it the URL of the image and it will not only shrink it for me but shows how much space I will be saving.

Load Javascript Last

I know, every tutorial and book shows that javascript should put in the HEAD tag. But think about this: generally speaking, javascript is useless without the elements on the rest of the page! If the page has not loaded, the javascript has nothing to interact with. So why does it need to come first? Because the browser processes HTML in a top-down manner, if javascript is placeed at the bottom of the page, the HTML elements will load and render first. To the user, this means the page appears quicker. When the images and HTML are loaded, the user can begin to read the page and decide upon action. While in the background, the browser continues to process the page and load the javascript. This quick fix does not change the real load-time, but by manipulating the user's perception of how fast the page loads, the user has a more positive experience.

Really, Size Matters

If shrinking the file-size of images reduces load-time, what if I could reduce other components as well? It turns out this can provide a sizable boost to both real and perceived load-times as well! Essentially I want to remove blank spaces and unnecessary markup from any javascript and css files being imported/included in a page. Remember, even a space affects the file-size. As with images, there are tools and websites you can use to shrink, or minify, your javascript and css. But one small change you can implement while writing these files that can add up to big savings is being mindful of semicolons. Know when semicolons are optional and omit them when possible. Once again, a small change can generate great savings to the server. Going one step further, I can also remove unnecessary markup and spaces in my HTML to reduce the size of the page request as well. The browser does not need several blank lines between DIVs, it just makes it easier for a developer to read. I can realize a smaller footprint and faster processing by using minimal "developer-centric" text formatting. These techniques are standard components of my development toolbox and can make the difference between a satisfied client and a happy client.

Is real time processing really required?

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 13:21:00 -0500

As processing power has increased, data caching has jumped to the forefront and user-demand for immediate response has grown, developers seem to have moved away from batch processing. But in a lot of situations, this can be a better approach than real-time processing.A few years ago I was tasked with building a piece of middleware to facilitate data exchange between 2 SQL Server-based systems. The main system was a Navision system that maintained the company's financials and inventory. The other was an Indaba installation which managed inventory for sale on 3rd party marketplaces, such as Amazon. Additionally, Indaba managed the actual orders placed on the marketplaces. So when an order was placed it came first to Indaba and Indaba double checked its inventory to make sure the order could be fulfilled. However, Navision was the system from which all order fulfillment took place; all the warehouse paperwork was generated in it and all shipping information was pulled from it. The data flow went something like this: as new inventory was added into Navision, it was pushed into Indaba. As orders from the marketplaces came into Indaba they were checked for availability against Indaba's copy of the inventory and pushed into Navision. Both were seen as needing to be done in real-time. Ignoring the complexity of the data in Navision (quantities are NEVER stored, always calculated) this sounds pretty simple, right? I thought so too. I jumped in and built a SQL trigger that pushed new inventory to Indaba each time a new item was added. On the flip side, I wanted to add a trigger in Indaba's database to push order information to Navision. This is when I ran into a problem.You see, Navision is looked at as a black box. It has its own programming language called C/SIDE that allows for development within its environment. Our Navision consultant explained that if I just pushed data into the sales order tables from the database side, it would by-pass all the checks and balances built into the code and in general be VERY bad. Since I respected this man's opinion, we set about finding a way around this. What we ended up doing was creating a method to process the orders in a batch. Once the orders were placed in Indaba, we weren't going to lose them. So we built staging tables in Navision that Indaba pushed the orders into. Then, on a schedule, Navision's internal code could process the data from those tables and generate the sales orders it needed. While it was imperative that Indaba maintain a real-time inventory copy, it was not necessary that the orders be brought into Navision in real-time. Batch processing was the answer. In this age where developers believe a customer cannot even be bothered with a page refresh (hello AJAX) the idea that all processing should be done in real-time can cause problems. Keep batch processing in mind.

SQL Server Tuning: Stored Procedures vs Ad Hoc Queries

Sat, 14 Jan 2012 18:39:00 -0500

When I first started writing Coldfusion applications I was very naive about data and architecture. I can admit it. I did not use components and I wrote (and often re-wrote) queries in-line when needed. As my development matured and I began to more fully understand SQL Server as an independent platform I recognized my failures.After delving into some SQL tuning for Navision, a Microsoft CRM/ERP system my company ran I began to understand that SQL Server likes stored procedures and functions over ad hoc queries. I also saw how this could benefit my Coldfusion development. This time coincided with a more full understanding of CF Components to allow me to write a function once and reference that function, rather than copy/paste the same queries (or business intelligence for that matter) all over the place. What I learned about SQL Server was this: when using stored procedures you can leverage internal caching that is not available from ad hoc queries. Because stored procedures have a formalized list of parameters, SQL can cache the way it will run the procedure (aka the execution plan). When an ad hoc query is sent to the compiler, it must determine the data types of any parameters before proceeding. By making this step unnecessary and pulling the execution plan from memory the stored procedure requires less overall processing and executes faster. By making a request in a more SQL Server-friendly way, the server rewards us with a faster result. If the result comes back faster, Coldfusion can do it's processing sooner and the client is rewarded with a faster response. If you take further advantage of SQL's ability to handle the data, by handling data manipulation or combining multiple queries into a single call, you lighten the load on your Coldfusion server and make it more efficient.

Let Bartlet Be Bartlet

Sat, 14 Jan 2012 16:25:00 -0500

My friends know I am a huge fan of the tv show The West Wing, hence the title of this post. As I was writing my post on using stored procedures, this one slapped me in the head and began forcing its way out. Too often developers think their language of choice is the end-all be-all of the development world. As a result they force it to do every necessary function when sometimes other tools, already readily available, can provide not only a better method, but can lead to exponential performance gains.As I continue to shape my development methodologies. I've adopted the attitude of "let the experts do what they are expert in". In other words, just because Coldfusion can do something does not mean it should be the component to do it. SQL Server (or Oracle or mysql) is the master of the data I want to use. It knows how to store it and retrieve it and parse it. So whenever possible, I want SQL to handle as much pre-processing (and post-processing) of the data as possible and let Coldfusion handle the responsibility of interfacing with the user and processing requests. Additionally, I don't want to get invalid data from the server that then takes processing to correct before using. For example, I had an instance where I needed to manipulate the pricing of inventory based on a client variable. Initially, this processing was being done by CF after SQL Server sent the inventory information back. While this certainly works, the concept of knowingly retrieving invalid data and then making it correct is never a good idea. So I adjusted my stored procedure to accept 1 more parameter and modified the logic inside to do the price adjustment. This change maintains server responsibility and prevents Coldfusion from having to fix invalid/incomplete data. Obviously that is a simple example that only leads to a small performance gain; maybe even negligible in the grand scheme. But what if I have a small set of data, say from a form submission, where some values cause a table update and other values must be inserted across multiple tables? Is it more effective to write the conditional logic and queries in coldfusion and then have the server make multiple requests to SQL to make it happen or pass all the variables into a single stored procedure that encapsulates the logic and acts upon the locally stored data? If the Coldfusion server's request responsibility it dropped from, say 3 insert queries, to 1 stored procedure call that is a 66% processing reduction each time that template (or component) is processed. Spread that across multiple simultaneous requests (maybe thousands) and you begin to really see the benefit. Of course, this also makes more resources available overall which benefits all threads on the Coldfusion server. Imagine that, letting a more apt resource handle what it handles best when necessary, you get improved performance all around.

SQL Server Tuning: Using the Tuning Wizard

Wed, 11 Jan 2012 15:48:00 -0500
A post in a troubleshooting forum on Linked In got me thinking about query optimization. The original poster asked about identifying and solving deadlock situations. Many great responses preceded mine, but it got me thinking about how I troubleshoot these problems. So I thought I would write it up over a series of posts.Deadlocks are actually occurrences where two resources are waiting for each other to complete before continuing. While these do, indeed happen, most of the time people use the phrase to mean a long-running process is hogging one or more resources and preventing those resources from being utilized by other processes. When the former occurs, I find the best approach to be finding a way to remove the reliance of the deadlocking resources. Removing the inter-dependence, the deadlock can no longer occur. But I want to focus on the latter situation as it is the more common. When your queries start taking longer and longer to run there are a few simple steps you can take to regain the speed you saw when you were testing as a single user. It would be easy to say optimize your indexes and queries, but that's not so easy to do. My first step is to leverage SQL Server to tell me what is going on and what it thinks I should do to be more efficient. SQL Server has a nice feature called the SQL Server Profiler. This allows you to record what is happening and analyze it later. By generating a profile on your server you get to see every query or stored procedure that is accessed, when it occurred and how long it took to complete. Coupled with the SQL Server Database Tuning Wizard, SQL Server can do some heavy lifting and recommend some areas to start your tuning such as missing or unused indexes. One of the databases I administered was over 250GB and housed a couple thousand tables. There is no way I could go through each table and manually decide how to optimize the indexes. With the recommendations from the tuning wizard, I was able to concentrate on the bigger bang optimizations that should net immediate results. I was able to easily generate missing indexes and disable those that were not used. The best part was no guessing was involved. Because the tuning wizard's suggestions were based on real-world usage, gathered over several hours (at minimum), I knew that these indexes would have a positive impact. I found that the tools offered by Idera were also very valuable. Idera's SQL Doctor is like a tuning wizard on steroids and helps get your SQL Server purring like a cheetah. I will post further on this topic over the next few days; touching on areas such as "stored procedures vs ad hoc queries" and "is real-time processing required".

Movie Review: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Wed, 04 Jan 2012 00:39:00 -0500
Just got back from seeing The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. I wanted to see it when it opened, but was a little busy with the holidays.I read and loved the books so going in I was hoping David Fincher would remain true to Stieg Larsson's work. I was not disappointed. The movie combined everything about the story with Fincher's no-pulled-punches style. I saw one review that claimed the movie as "rapey" and I understand where that comes from. However, as stomach-turning as those scenes may be, I was glad it was decided to stay true to the original work and include them. The photography of the movie was beautifully gloomy and Trent Reznor's soundtrack supported the movie without being intrusive. I'm not one for "spoilers", but I have to agree with Kevin Smith, the sound fx of the teeth skittering across the floor: brilliant (and kind skin-scrawling). If you are looking for a good, serious movie with well-formed "3D" characters and a strong story go see this movie! Plus, Goran Visnjic (Luca from ER) is in it. Where has he been all these years? Also, the preview for Rock of Ages! This is definitely a MUST SEE for me, if for no other reason than the soundtrack!