ingenious code ::

I have been hosting my blog for the last couple of years on a shared server, but I started to feel that I am spending more time on maintenance and upgrades than actually writing in my blog. So I decided to move my blog to engine I heard a lot of good things about and that is Squarespace.com . So, here I am. after spending an hour on exporting the data, setting up my blog etc. Its ready!

Its been a while since I wrote in my blog but I wrote and interesting script (in my opinion...) that I thought is worse while to publish. Problem: I have a database that has several hundred tables and on some of them a bit field that is set to not null but doesn't have a default value. Solution: I wrote a script using the system tables which goes over all the tables and if it doesn't have a default value, and "ALTER TABLE" command is run and sets a default for this field. Here is the script:

declare @sqlString nvarchar(4000),@tablename nvarchar(100),

@ColumnName nvarchar(100)select

so.name table_name

,sc.name column_name

,st.name data_type

,so.id table_id

,sc.colid column_id

into #temp

from sysobjects so

inner join syscolumns sc on (so.id = sc.id)

inner join systypes st on (st.type = sc.type)

where so.type = 'U'

and st.name IN ('BIT')

select c.TABLE_NAME, c.COLUMN_NAME into #temp2

from INFORMATION_SCHEMA.COLUMNS c, #temp t

where  c.TABLE_NAME = t.table_name and c.COLUMN_NAME = t.column_name

and c.data_type = 'bit' and c.COLUMN_DEFAULT is null

drop table #temp

while (select count(*) from #temp2) > 1

begin

select top 1 @tablename = table_name, @columnname = column_name

from #temp2

set @sqlString = 'ALTER TABLE ['+ @tablename + ']
 WITH NOCHECK ADD CONSTRAINT [Df_'+ @tablename +   '_' + @columnname +  ']
 DEFAULT (0) FOR ['+ @columnname +']'

print 'setting default on table: ' + @tablename + ' Column: ' + @columnname

EXEC (@sqlString)

delete #temp2 where table_name = @tablename and column_name = @columnname

end

drop table #temp2

I just finished reading an article in this week Economist about the new craze in IT, Cloud Computing. This week Microsoft released a CTP version on Windows azure, a cloud based operating system. I first heard about the concept of cloud computing back in June when I was invited to a Microsoft focus group. At first, I was a little sceptic regarding the concept but now I could see that this is part of the natural evolution of the computer and the interaction between humans and computers.

When I started to play with computers (literally, play with computers) back in 1988, the computer had the shape of a box. Actually two boxes, one a 14" CRT Monitor and the Computer itself. Most of us some of us still use the desktop computer, but the trend today is that computers are becoming smaller and smaller and more distributed. It's seems that everyone today has a laptop either a MAC or a PC, and in many cases you will find that a family household holds between 2-3 computers. 

So how does cloud computing comes into play? very simple. Every one today uses somekind of cloud computing service like gmail, flickr, facebook. We use it to store picture, information, movies etc. With the Web 2.0 revolution a lot of software that we used on our computer we could now use a web application. If its office, google has a pretty good alternative. For personal finance you could use mint.com and the list could go on and on. 

I think the next step in this evolution is pretty obvious. The next generation computer will have a touchscreen, and a wireless network card. The operating system will be very small and compact and will just need to do one thing, connect you to the Internet. Once you got the connection, what else do you need?

Of course this next step has its disadvantages like privacy and security. Think about it, the simple notion is that the services that we use online are hosted on servers owned by corporations. So if you think about it, whatever you put online is out there and you don't always know who could be sniffing around.

In sum, like it or not cloud computing is here and its here to stay. Due to the relative low costs of servers and equipment companies like Microsoft and google are spending millions of dollars on building this cloud environment and the consumers are flocking to use these type of services. And I think that if you at it at the 50,000 feet level this all makes sense.

More about Cloud Computing:

• Wikipedia-Cloud Computing 
• YouTube - What is cloud computing 
• 15 Ways to Tell Its Not Cloud Computing  
• What is windows Azure?

I have to confess. As a normal geek, I buy a lot of stuff on the internet. As a good consumer I will research the product, look for the best price and once I am happy with what I found, I'll make the purchase. Usually, when I shop online I would look for th cheapest shipping method, unless of course it extremely important that I have the thing I'm buying within' a day. Most cases, if I ordered online, I could wait the 5-7 business days till I get the thing.The problem is that shipping cheap cost you more than you would expect. For example, if I order something personal that I can carry on my way home I will order it to the office, but if its too big than I need it to be shipped to my home. Well, here is the problem. First, they will never tell you when the item will arrive to your home. Second, the messenger will come and of course and nobody will be there to greet him so he will leave a sticky note indicating the next time that will appear... I don't how they manage their time but always they put 10:30-2PM which means that that day I have to work from home unless I want to drive 15 miles to get the item. Now, you would think that if the messenger puts 10-2:30, he or she will actually be here... HA! you guessed wrong. So ,here I am still waiting for my package (btw it's already 4:30). I wish that the shipping companies (UPS, DHL and Fedex) would invest a little bit in making the quality of delivery better because each coin has two sides, as a business owner I will not ship with a company that makes me salty at home all day long waiting for my package.