Voice of the DBA

Category: Editorial

  • The Worst Comments

    I was watching a presentation recently on refactoring C# code and was amazed by some of the comments that the speakers showed in the code. The example was a real application that had been obfuscated and simplified a bit for the talk. The comments, however, had only been changed when they might disclose a specific person or company. The speakers pointed out a few of those changes, but also noted that most of the comments were verbatim from the original code.

    Comments like “Dave changed this from the old way”  or “Bug 445: as per the operations group” were good examples of bad comments. These items don’t really help a developer understand the code. The comments in application code should be there to add to the code itself, helping someone understand a reason for the code, not an obscure reference or an obvious statement (“this code adds two balances together).

    With that in mind, I’m sure many of you have come across some comments in code that have evoked a wide range of emotions. I’m sure you’ve been frustrated, annoyed, or something else. Perhaps even from your own comments. With that in mind…

    What are the worst comments you have found in code?

    I hope you don’t have examples in your current application, but perhaps you do. Perhaps you have even committed your own code recently without really taking the time to accurately describe the change. Maybe you want to go look in your VCS and see what you’ve entered lately.

    Steve Jones

    The Voice of the DBA Podcast

    Listen to the MP3 Audio ( 2.0MB) podcast or subscribe to the feed at iTunes and LibSyn.

  • Data Breach Danger

    Recently a court in the US ruled that there was no imminent danger from a data breach at a Texas hospital. This is good news and bad news for the world, and I’m a little torn about how I feel. On one hand, it’s good for us as data professionals that we aren’t necessarily going to be liable for the immediate effects from lost data. While the losses aren’t always our fault, we certainly could feel pressure from management if companies faced immediately legal or financial penalties.

    However it’s bad news because I think there’s little else that data breaches do than cause harm to those whose information is lost. It can be incredibly hard to link a specific breach to a specific identity theft incident, and I see this as a way of allowing companies to escape liability for their poor security practices.

    In reality, however, I have no solution to propose. As a data professional, I try to keep data safe, but it’s very, very difficult. One small hole in your technical infrastructure or human employees and you can lose a ton of data very, very quickly. I know it’s not lost, but copied, however you have lost control of it.

    We will face more and more security incidents, and as those tasked with protecting data, I’m not sure what we can do, or should do. However, I do think that organizations can’t take all responsibility, nor can they take no responsibility. The balance of how to deal with losses and issues is certainly something I hope we work out.

    Soon.

    Steve Jones

  • Data Breach Danger

    Recently a court in the US ruled that there was no imminent danger from a data breach at a Texas hospital. This is good news and bad news for the world, and I’m a little torn about how I feel. On one hand, it’s good for us as data professionals that we aren’t necessarily going to be liable for the immediate effects from lost data. While the losses aren’t always our fault, we certainly could feel pressure from management if companies faced immediately legal or financial penalties.

    However it’s bad news because I think there’s little else that data breaches do than cause harm to those whose information is lost. It can be incredibly hard to link a specific breach to a specific identity theft incident, and I see this as a way of allowing companies to escape liability for their poor security practices.

    In reality, however, I have no solution to propose. As a data professional, I try to keep data safe, but it’s very, very difficult. One small hole in your technical infrastructure or human employees and you can lose a ton of data very, very quickly. I know it’s not lost, but copied, however you have lost control of it.

    We will face more and more security incidents, and as those tasked with protecting data, I’m not sure what we can do, or should do. However, I do think that organizations can’t take all responsibility, nor can they take no responsibility. The balance of how to deal with losses and issues is certainly something I hope we work out a a society.

    Soon.

    Steve Jones

    The Voice of the DBA Podcast

    Listen to the MP3 Audio ( MB) podcast or subscribe to the feed at iTunes and LibSyn.

  • The Design Investment

    This editorial was originally published on Sept 29, 2010. It is being re-run as Steve is traveling.

    I ran across a bit of a rant from Don Halloran on the lack of design effort being made in many applications and software. He talks about a lack of consistency in databases, confusing column names and datatypes not used correctly. Don laments that “It seems database design doesn’t get much respect, and I really don’t understand why this is.”

    We all probably have some idea of why systems get built like this: the designer is ignorant, or lazy, or maybe doesn’t pay attention because it’s not part of their job. Any reason could fit, but ultimately it comes down to someone taking on a job without making the investment in their own career.

    If I were putting tile in my own bathroom, I accept a few mistakes, and I might cut some corners. I might be happy to accept a little fumbling around while cutting tile. I would not, however, put up with that if I were paying someone. I would expect a more professional job. If I decided to change careers and lay tile for a living, I’d also expect to make an investment in my own skills to learn how to do a professional job.

    I understand that developers are paid to write code, and that they are more interested in manipulating objects, methods and properties and implementing DR or indexing. If you plan on working with SQL Server, it pays to make the investment in learning how to do it properly. If for not other reason than because you should consider if part of your professional responsibility.

     

    Steve Jones