Using SQLAlchemy unit test cases to further develop MySQL Connector/Python. It's probably debatable whether that's a good method or just lame. But it sure helps lots!

We've been pushing some code past days that makes Connector/Python almost pass all tests. Well, 4% is still failing, but I'm confident that in a few most problems will be dealt with. I had to make some changes to the SQLAlchemy v0.6 dialect as well, and some test cases had to be corrected. Hopefully those corrections will also go in the SQLAlchemy trunk later on.

shell> nosetests --dburi=mysql+mysqlconnector://root:@localhost/sqlalchemy
..
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Ran 2092 tests in 314.656s

FAILED …

We are pleased to announce the availability of 1.0.1 Release Candidate 2 of InfiniDB Community Edition.  This is our second release candidate and is not recommended for production work.

This is our last release candidate as we will be releasing 1.0.2 Final in early February.  This release includes a number of bug fixes that you can see at http://bugs.launchpad.net/infinidb.  You can download the latest InfiniDB binaries, source code, and updated documeRead More...

We are pleased to announce the availability of 1.0.1 Release Candidate 2 of InfiniDB Community Edition.  This is our second release candidate and is not recommended for production work.

This is our last release candidate as we will be releasing 1.0.2 Final in early February.  This release includes a number of bug fixes that you can see at http://bugs.launchpad.net/infinidb.  You can download the latest InfiniDB binaries, source code, and updated documeRead More...

Machines Plus Minds: E-Blobs and NoSQL options

Morton Tocker just recently wrote the blog article When Should You Store Objects in the Database where he talks about what Josh Berkus calls the 'E-blob antipattern'. There is much disagreement on whether this is a pattern or an antipattern.

This pattern is where you take all the information about something, and serialize it into a string, usually in JSON format, and then insert them into a very simple MySQL InnoDB table that contains only a primary key column and a "data" BLOB column to keep that serialized string in.

I can understand (and even make) the arguments pro and con.

What bugs me about this pattern is that you have basically created a document store or an object store, but with all the complexity and brittleness of running a SQL database that you can't run SQL …

I have been busy doing things other than modifying MySQL for a few months, but now I am back and have a few more patches to share for the Facebook patch for MySQL 5.0. Activity on this patch will soon end as we will begin working on MySQL 5.1.

Yes, there will be a Facebook patch for MySQL 5.1. There are several people at Facebook who modify MySQL, so we should have good things to share for 5.1. We will also present our work at the MySQL Conference, but our session is not listed yet.

The new patches are available at Launchpad. As with any change to a complex piece of software, it is wise to work with your source code provider (MySQL, MariaDB, Drizzle, Percona, etc) if you are interested in these changes. While I am a big fan of …

A while back Friendfeed posted a blog post explaining how they changed from storing data in MySQL columns to serializing data and just storing it inside TEXT/BLOB columns. It seems that since then, the technique has gotten more popular with Ruby gems now around to do this for you automatically.

So when is it a good idea to use this technique?

If the application really is schema-less and has a lot of optional parameters that do not appear in every record, serializing the data in one column can be a better idea than having many extra columns that are NULL. The restriction on this, would be that searching on these columns now becomes more difficult[1]. A good example of this optional nature of data is user preferences - you only really need to store the settings that differ from …

I’ve been using a lot of RESTful services these days and have been waiting for a good book that is dedicated to the topic. I recently received a copy of ‘RESTful PHP Web Services’, which does a successful job of outlining proven concepts in current web technology. If you want to learn the methods for creating and consuming RESTful services then you will find many examples in this book. From the architectural plans to well thought out code samples, the book covers a lot of ground in a relatively quick read.

The first chapter gives the reader a quick introduction to RESTful services and the most common PHP frameworks in use at the time of writing. I particularly enjoyed the section on the Zend framework due to the explanation of benefits over the other frameworks. …

EC approves Oracle-Sun. Google patents MapReduce. And more.

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EC approves Oracle-Sun
The European Commission cleared Oracle’s proposed acquisition of Sun Microsystems. While Larry Ellison is set to unveil Oracle’s Sun strategy on January 27th, Monty Widenius said he will go to the Court of First Instance to appeal the decision.

# Pro-open source political party formed in Hungary.

# Google …

Sun has made changes in the certification procedures for all their exams including the MySQL exams. Exam vouchers are no longer offered through local Sun Sales Offices but exams can be purchased directly from Prometric. The price has been raised to $300 per exam.

The exam codes are:
Sun 310-810 Sun Certified MySQL DBA 5.0 part I
Sun 310-811 Sun Certified MySQL DBA 5.0 part II
Sun 310-812 Sun Certified MySQL Developer 5.0 part I
Sun 310-813 Sun Certified MySQL Developer 5.0 part II
Sun 310-814 Sun Certified MySQL Associate
Sun 310-815 Sun Certified MySQL 5.1 Cluster DBA

The new prices went into effect January 19th.