The Heap™ – Consultancy ©® - 2016-02-26 (page 2 of 2)

Paul White

16:10

r

Shortest tag?

Phrancis

Ah we have a bunch of those R at CR

swasheck

@PaulWhite shouldnt that be capitalized?

bluefeet

@swasheck pfft we don't do that

@PaulWhite I'll attempting to learn that :/

Paul White

@swasheck tags are always lower case for reasons of unicorn, waffle, and pony.

swasheck

@bluefeet for all of the data analysis you're going to do for SO?

@PaulWhite the logic is airtight.

bluefeet

16:16

@swasheck I do some right now

before I suggest features, etc I dig into the database

swasheck

@bluefeet i'm reworking my statistics skew analysis to include ... statistics ... so i'm doing some skewness and kurtosis measures on histogram windows

it's fun

bluefeet

sounds fun. I'm looking at user engagement stuff and retention - it's also fun

Paul White

@bluefeet Really? With SQL Server?

That's pretty cutting-edge if so.

swasheck

@PaulWhite that's like ... TAP stuff right there

Paul White

@swasheck I think it's in CTP now.

swasheck

16:20

:D

bluefeet

@PaulWhite we can query the DB and then analyze in it

swasheck

booo. you're not using R directly from SQL Server 2016? slackers

bluefeet

As I said, I'm attempting to learn it

@swasheck I interact with the DB via a version of SEDE - I don't get direct access

Paul White

@bluefeet Oh I thought you were doing the shiny 2016 thing. Still, pretty cool. Gee there's so much stuff to know these days.

bluefeet

@PaulWhite nope :(

swasheck

16:23

@PaulWhite that's what i was hoping for as well

bluefeet

I wish

Paul White

@bluefeet That OK. Don't feel bad. People here would only begrudgingly acknowledge your achievement if you said you were doing R on Polybase and Hadoop with in-memory column store in a preview build of SQL Server 2021 :)

From PowerShell v10.

swasheck

@PaulWhite R is soooooo 2015

@PaulWhite that seems like a bit of a setback

Paul White

I heard kurtosis gives you bad breath anyway.

@swasheck I ran out of tech BS.

swasheck

@bluefeet what are your metrics for that?

@PaulWhite there's a pill for that ... i'm sure of it

bluefeet

16:26

@swasheck that's what I'm trying to figure out right now :P

swasheck

@bluefeet what are you considering? what are you trying to analyze? "user engagement" is pretty broad

bluefeet

@swasheck that's the point right now. I'm trying to get a big picture of any user who did anything on the site at first, then we will trim it down a bit.

If you do anything, you'll be counted initially

swasheck

ok, i see. so this is an exploration for right now. cool. i hope it's fun and rewarding for you

bluefeet

It's totally exploration at this point. Once we have a good idea what to count, then I'll trim it down to actual metrics.

swasheck

i'd say that the statistics.se site would be a good place becaue they're all geeky ... not only with statistics but setting up sampling and exploration assays

i've had some really good luck with them

bluefeet

16:29

We currently look only at users who post a q or a - but that excludes users who do other things

Lamak

@bluefeet hm....user engagement

swasheck

@Lamak i head some SO folks got married or something

bluefeet

@swasheck 2 people did this past weekend

Lamak

@bluefeet I would look for users that used to answer questions and now post only comments

swasheck

@Lamak that's me

@bluefeet i saw

Lamak

16:31

@swasheck yeah, me too....I'm not a very "thinking-out-of-the-box" guy

bluefeet

@Lamak that might something I'll be looking at. I'm also going to be looking at why folks might stop doing anything - did they get a mod message, were they downvoted, did a question/answer get deleted

I'll be looking at a variety of things

swasheck

@bluefeet correlation between events engaged by a user. sounds like a fun use case :)

Lamak

@bluefeet yeah, I would look at users that got contacted by @shog9, I bet that a lot of them stopped answering

(totally joking)

bluefeet

Yup, I already started looking at users who were mod messaged

but then got distracted by a ..... SQUIRREL

dezso

so, if you have to say such a thing, do you say 'high available' or 'highly available' (about a DB)?

swasheck

16:36

@dezso well are you going for an adverb? an adjective? a noun?

ypercubeᵀᴹ

@dezso You mean a db with high availability? I'd guess the second.

I don't know how the first might be used at all.

Michael Green

@dezso implementing strategies for high availability gives a highly available system. They're different parts of speech.

ypercubeᵀᴹ

@bluefeet moved to another (SO) site ;)

Phil

Does sql server have an equivalent of Oracles rowid? i need to de-dupe a table & it doesn't have an integer key :/

dezso

@MichaelGreen yeah, that's my feeling, too, but I see some other opinions (I suppose from non-ntaive speakers)

google.de/search?q=%22high+available%22

Paul White

16:40

@Phil Nope. Usual trick is to row-number and delete > 1.

Phil

@PaulWhite ok, CTAS with distinct, truncate & reload it is then., cheers

Paul White

@Phil CTAS?

ypercubeᵀᴹ

Star Trek - Horizon: Full Film

►

for Trekkies with love

Phil

@PaulWhite Create Table As Select

Paul White

@Phil Oh!

SELECT INTO

@bluefeet Isn't that the normal number for a marriage? ;)

bluefeet

16:47

@PaulWhite for most marriages

ypercubeᵀᴹ

@Phil How big is it? Aaron has posted some answers with neat tricks using sp_rename, for faster replacing of a table with another.

Michael Green

@dezso yeah .. to me it seems like those examples use "high available" as a single compound noun. Those authors are inventing a new word.

Phil

@ypercubeᵀᴹ not that big. Already done :)

Paul White

Please take my survey here. — bluefeet ♦ 3 mins ago

2

Top notch.

bluefeet

it was required

Paul White

16:54

Still, nicely done.

And by the shog in return.

P.S. pls also allow "destroy" for high-rep blue-footed employee accounts. — Shog9 ♦ 1 min ago

bluefeet

I deserve that

Paul White

BTW in case you were wondering, I did click your link.

bluefeet

and promptly closed the window?

dezso

> Der betreffende Nutzer hat das Video in deinem Land nicht zur Verfügung gestellt.

swasheck

@bluefeet after doing a little dance

Paul White

17:00

@bluefeet It was a blur.

dezso

^^ that means that some nasty video was detected

(well, actually not)

Paul White

translate: Der betreffende Nutzer hat das Video in deinem Land nicht zur Verfügung gestellt.

(from German) The concerned user has not provided the video in your country.

@dezso Rick.

billinkc

I have reached my limit of asking questions can you please tell the answer @billinkc — koushik veldanda 6 mins ago

Zane

@bluefeet I'm pretty over the Rick Astley bit and that still got a laugh outta me.

bluefeet

@Zane I tried to come up with something quickly and that was the first thing that came to mind. My creativity failed me today

ArtOfCode

17:11

@PaulWhite Yeah, I did too.

dezso

@PaulWhite why am I not surprised

Paul White

@ArtOfCode @Zane I hadn't been RickRoll'd for years. It was actually perfect.

@billinkc If you suggest he creates an account here to ask...!

billinkc

I had started with just create a new account but then I got all weepy

dezso

@PaulWhite I've never been rickrolled yet - and again not now, unfortunately

swasheck

SOCK PUPPET!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Paul White

17:16

@dezso Being saved by a location restriction doesn't really count.

Zane

@PaulWhite Yeah just long enough time for it to be funny again.

Paul White

Yep.

158

Q: The Complete Rate-Limiting Guide

I noticed that I can only perform certain actions such as commenting a finite number of times in a given period of time. Obviously, rate limiting is in place to prevent accidental misuse or intentional abuse of certain features. Where else is rate limiting applied on Stack Exchange sites, and wh...

@ypercubeᵀᴹ ^

ypercubeᵀᴹ

@PaulWhite I know. But they haven't asjed a question in months. Unless they have - and they got deleted. Is that the case?

Paul White

@ypercubeᵀᴹ No idea. It's Stack Overflow.

ypercubeᵀᴹ

@bluefeet thnx for the link! Reminded me of my youth.

Paul White

17:21

@ypercubeᵀᴹ Rick Astley is your son?!?!

Oh.

swasheck

@PaulWhite or he IS rick astley

ypercubeᵀᴹ

@PaulWhite Son? No

dezso

@Zane define historically metafunny

Paul White

@swasheck Your shift key is getting worse :'(

ypercubeᵀᴹ

The song was released when I went from high school to university.

swasheck

17:23

@PaulWhite it's the rage of having to work with some of the absolute dumbest IT people on the planet. my god, this company is full of dopes

Paul White

@ypercubeᵀᴹ "reminded me of my youth" <- lame play on words

i.e the youth (young person) that belongs to you.

ypercubeᵀᴹ

eye see.

bluefeet

@ypercubeᵀᴹ SO has a more comprehensive question block that impacts users

Paul White

Jokes are always better when explained at great length.

3

Paul White

18:00

Clever revision comment

(Lyric to "database" by Man with a Mission)

swasheck

normally i hate tumblr

mamalaz.tumblr.com/tagged/modern-solo-adventures

Phil

18:38

Rickroll 1-up score: Phil 1 - 0 @MikeFal

Mike Fal

18:55

It's ok @Phil, no matter how much you rickroll me, I'm never gonna give you up. Because you'll never let me down. :D

2

swasheck

FFFFFFFFFFFEEEEEEEEEEHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK

Mike Fal

Apparently it's a typical Friday for @swasheck

swasheck

@MikeFal nope. it's a typical monday

Mike Fal

Someone pooped in your tubes

swasheck

i've said many politically incorrect things in the office today

it's just brutal

Lamak

19:06

@swasheck you are too politically correct for this to be true

swasheck

@Lamak i'm actually not. i'm the office a-hole here

Lamak

@swasheck I take it that you work in an all-canadian office then

swasheck

@Lamak no. i work in a very politically-sensitive office with a bunch of 9-year olds who cry when someone says "no" or asks "why" ... the other people on my team have learned to play the game. i refuse

Lamak

@swasheck how politically-sensitive can it be to make you an a-hole?, I can't fathom

do you work for tumblr?

swasheck

@Lamak well i said that i say, "no" and ask "why" a lot. egos can't handle such behavior

Lamak

19:18

@swasheck doesn't sound politically incorrect to me. Unless you are asking: "why, f%gg%t"

swasheck

@Lamak well today has been particularly incorrect for me

Lamak

sounds tiring

swasheck

it is

n00b

hey guys, question for you. i have am building an XML parser which is loading some db tables. I have a field/column that is made up of several parts that make up the whole. i.e. "o:microsoft:windows_server_2003::sp2:x64" I can either parse it so that each component is in its own column in the database table, or just have the people using it on the other end, parse it when they query it out of the database

Tom V

@PaulWhite six nations is starting, do you even follow that remotely or is that irrelevant on your continent?

n00b

19:21

what is the best practice in this scenario?

have the data use one field "configuration" or several "os/version/servicepack etc."

*database table

Tom V

Wales - France in round 3, not exactly world champ contenders maybe ;)

Paul White

@TomV Wales v France? That starts in 30 mins here on Sky (NZ)

Lamak

@n00b for databases, the very first normal form is to not have multiple values stored in the same column

Tom V

yes pregame talks are on now

swasheck

psh. the welsh

Tom V

19:23

So it isn't entirely irrelevant to the world champs :)

Paul White

@TomV I do sometimes follow it. I am interested, but there's so much interesting sport almost all the time. I enjoy games where England lose in particular.

Tom V

@PaulWhite Ha.. Ha..

Paul White

I would hope Wales smash France today.

Partly because I prefer the way they play, partly because Warren Gatland.

n00b

@Lamak thanks. so then follow up question, should i then have a lookup table for each possible field (for example, a lookup table for OS, a lookup table for version, a lookup table for service pack info, etc)? then essentially one table would just have integer references to the multiple sub tables, which seems kind of ugly to me?

Tom V

If I'd bet it would be on Wales actually

Paul White

19:26

It's weird though because the Super Rugby season started here yesterday. It's still summer; feels wrong to be watching rugby. Also most players have forgotten how to play early on.

n00b

but if I dont do then, then i end up with redundancy, (e.g. "microsoft" would appear many times over in the same table, as would "windows 7" etc). i dont like having a bunch of integers either though. that would be normalized though, correct?

Tom V

@PaulWhite I'm not sure it's the players, I know a soccer (I call it football) physical coach in first division and I thought his team wasn't ready early in the season. His reply was a simple "it's not yet necessary, we'll be ready when we have to". The season is coming to money time and they are right up where they belong

Paul White

@TomV That doesn't make sense to me. The team earns the same number of points for a win early in the season as at the end, no?

Tom V

depends, over here football has playoffs

Paul White

@TomV Oh sure, yes. I was just talking about the regular season - before qualification for finals/play-offs.

Tom V

19:34

and even without them the last few games are more demanding than the first couple

Paul White

No doubt. Everyone's remembered how to play the game by then :)

Tom V

but if you are in the top clubs, you just need to make the PO and be in optimum form by then

Paul White

@n00b Just replacing strings with numbers isn't normalization, no. The design you choose is mostly driven by how the data will be used, and what sort of data quality guarantees you need. Have a look at some of these answers for example to get a feel for the process.

@TomV Yes I suppose that's true. I wouldn't make a good coach ;) The goal is probably to be slightly better than average overall in the regular season, building from a good-enough start to a peak in the finals' games.

Tom V

@PaulWhite exactly

I was a fairly decent bball player and the end of the season is where you win or lose

even in regular competition without finals/playoffs

Paul White

@TomV Are you like 2m tall?

Tom V

19:41

1.98 yes

Paul White

Crikey.

Tom V

This year I think will be the last year I can say "I played that NBA dude while younger"

well they played me, the guys with those amounts of skill

but hey, we were on the same court, playing the same game :)

Paul White

That's a pretty cool thing to be able to say!

Another Heaper with hidden talents.

2

Lamak

@PaulWhite which one is the first?

swasheck

@TomV which?

Tom V

19:44

We played international tournaments where Dirk Nowitzki was still playing for berlin and I attended a north carolina camp where I played Tim Duncan

etc....

swasheck

oh

Tom V

I guess Dirk is the last man standing

ypercubeᵀᴹ

@TomV which team were you playing in?

Tom V

Remember training with Dirk Smits before he left

@ypercubeᵀᴹ Local belgium team

swasheck

i played baseball against Johnny Damon and AJ Pierzynski

Paul White

19:45

@Lamak It seems everyone has something interesting/unexpected about them.

Tom V

We just met those guys on tournaments or training camps

I wasn't as good as them obviously, I'd be rich enough to not work anymore

Paul White

Right, Wales v France set to record. Dropping wife at work, then home to maybe watch it almost-live. Otherwise probably later tonight in the background while I SQL.

swasheck

and swam in the same pool as Amy Van Dyken

ypercubeᵀᴹ

@swasheck what's baseball?

swasheck

@PaulWhite dropping her at work ... sounds painful

@ypercubeᵀᴹ barbaric and boring game whereby men hit balls with sticks

Paul White

19:47

@swasheck Ha. I'll be careful.

ypercubeᵀᴹ

@swasheck not as boring as cricket ;)

Paul White

@ypercubeᵀᴹ Be very careful now.

I haven't quite left yet.

Tom V

I remember losing to the Nowizki team, very clearly. We saw them play the whole tournament and we knew we didn't stand a chance, but it was our last day in Denmark so we went for Carlsberg the night before the finals

swasheck

@ypercubeᵀᴹ i just dont seem to be able to have the attention span for cricket

Tom V

we lost 126-45, I'll never forget

ypercubeᵀᴹ

19:48

@PaulWhite Oh boy. I managed to offend both sides of the Pacific.

swasheck

@TomV proud for you to have kept it that close :)

Paul White

@ypercubeᵀᴹ Well done!

Tom V

@swasheck We finished the london bears and similar before reaching the finals so we felt like we deserved a party

Paul White

@swasheck A T20 game only lasts a few hours.

Tom V

And there was absolutely no way we would beat that guy

ypercubeᵀᴹ

19:50

@TomV from London bears to Copenhagen beers

Tom V

Yea, Dirk was sipping red bull while my stomach was resenting any liquid :)

I remember playing him, I'm fairly sure he doesn't so don't think I'm saying I'm anywhere as good

Tom V

20:07

I had one goal that afternoon, and I wanted to dunk over him. I failed, I had one chance and it was on the back of the rim and out

Phil

21:17

I'm getting proper flamed on hacker news :P

news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11183105

swasheck

@Phil they're trolling you. they're probably 18-year olds

Master Database

21:38

0

Q: What kind of DB diagram is the menu at the top of the page?

the menu at the top of the page looks like a database diagram. It isn't crows foot, so what is it? It kind of looks like the way I map my queries out...but I use a combination of the UML and the Database templates in dia.

discussion

Phrancis

@MasterDatabase wat

swasheck

LOLWAT

dezso

Isn't it the famed Injured Crow Foot Notation? — dezso 14 secs ago

Phil

23:06

0

Q: How can I launch SQL Developer?

I recently installed Oracle 11g R2 on a Windows 8.1 machine, but for some reason SQL Developer does not seem to launch easily. What specific steps do I need to take in order to launch a working SQL Developer instance? Here are my steps so far (There are print screens in hyperlinks below becau...

oracle oracle-11g-r2 oracle-11g oracle-sql-developer

What's going on with that answer & the comments?! Mental

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The Heap™ – Consultancy ©®