Reflections
Goodbye, Farewell, and what I’ve Learned
Today is my last day at smenso, where I’ve worked for the past 6 years.
Here are the things I want to write down – mainly so I can reread it in the future and remember.
#100CodeExamples
Order To The Chaos – with PL/SQL Collections
PL/SQL provides three different types of collections to hold multiple items of data. They all come with different capabilities and limitations and since these are hard to remember, I provide a condensed showcase of the different collection types in one single code example.
#100CodeExamples
Deeply Nested XML and JSON with SQL
I already wrote about how much I like the XML generating capabilities of modern SQL, but most examples come only with one or two levels of depth.
What if you want to create deeply nested XML and JSON directly from SQL?
#100CodeExamples
Get a list of Quarters by Year with Recursive CTEs (WITH-clause)
Recursive CTEs (WITH-clause) is one addition to the SQL standard that makes the language incredibly powerful. Besides other things it can be used to generate data rows “from thin air” – for example a list of quarters by year.
SQL is your friend!
#100CodeExamples
XML-Generation in SQL with Namespaces
One of my favorite features of (Oracle-)SQL is how easy it is to turn relational data into other data formats like JSON or XML.
But what if you need to add a namespace to some of the nodes in your generated XML?
I struggled with that until I made a realization about the nature of the xlmns part in XML.
#100CodeExamples
Dead easy NULL-aware comparison in Oracle with DECODE
One of the probably most unnerving things in databases is dealing with NULLs, especially when comparing data. The necessary logic to deal with NULLs can lead to very verbose code – but if you’re using Oracle, there is a very neat function you can use.
Reflections
2022 – A bit of a Review
A totally incomplete list of things that I felt were highlights in 2022.
Humans
“Stop Hiding From Your Planet” – Interview with Steven Feuerstein about Databases, PL/SQL, and Direct Positive Action
I had the honor and pleasure to do an Interview for the RedStack magazine with Steven Feuertein about his career, databases, PL/SQL, our planet and our responsibility for direct positive action.
This is the whole interview in English.
#100CodeExamples
Version-String Handling with PL/SQL
Wrapping some functionality into a nice little PL/SQL package can make your life so much easier.
I demonstrate this with a small utility-package to deal with Version-Strings.
Public Speaking
Why did my favorite conference reject my talk?
Having a talk rejected is hard, especially when you really cared about the conference you wanted to speak at. But it doesn’t mean that you are a failure.
I want to explain some reasons why talks might get rejected and why a great abstract doesn’t necessarily mean success.