Reflections on SOLID Principles

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Object-oriented is a methodology that uses a language feature known as objects as its fundamental unit of expression. The acronym SOLID identifies foundational principles differentiating between an object-oriented design and a design that simply uses objects.

#ObjectOriented uses #Objects but using #Objects isn’t always #ObjectOriented.
– #Programming #Architecture #ObjectOrientedDesign – @bgribaudo (original Tweet)

Recently, I read “Uncle Bob” (Robert C.) Martin’s exposition of the SOLID in his book Agile Software Development, Principles, Patterns, and Practices (Pearson, 2002, ISBN: 978-0135974445). Below is a combination of notes from his explanation and thoughts of my own that came as I contemplated what Uncle Bob wrote. Continue reading →

Python for Non-Data Analytics?

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Microsoft SQL Server 2017’s support for Python had me curious. Would this integration make it practical to use Python in non-data analytic scenarios where a general-purpose programming language—like Python—is more suitable than set-based T-SQL?

The answer to this question hinges around the integration’s design. Presumably, the new Python integration is designed to work well for data analysis, as this seems to be the prime impetus motivating it. An integration that excels in one scenario, like the assemble data -> process & analyze -> return results flow common in data analytics, may or may not be a good fit for other use cases.

To help us evaluate when and where SQL Server’s Python support may be helpful for non-data analytics applications, let’s compare it—or, more specifically, let’s compare the underlying external script execution environment that powers it—with two integrations that have been included with SQL Server for some time: Common Language Runtime (CLR) and xp_cmdshell.
Continue reading →

Passing a String Where It Isn’t Expected:
Exploring the Implicit Conversion Alternative

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Let’s say you maintain a class whose constructor expects a configuration object:

class MyDbConnection {
  public MyDbConnection(MyDbConfiguration config) { … }
}
...
var config = new MyDbConfiguration { Server = "SuperFastDbServer", User = "jsmith", Password = … };
var connection = new MyDbConnection(config);

Along the way, developers asked for a simple, textual way to set configuration options. To accommodate this, you gave the configuration class a constructor that accepts a settings string as its argument:

var connection = new MyDbConnection(new MyDbConfiguration("server=SuperFastDbServer;user=jsmith;password=…"));

Now, you’ve received a request to further streamline usage by allowing the configuration string to be passed directly to the main class, bypassing the need to reference the settings class:

var connection = new MyDbConnection("server=SuperFastDbServer;user=jsmith;password=…");

Since the goal is to construct instances of the main class by passing a string, it seems the way to implement this request is to give the main class a constructor that accepts a string as its argument.

Surprisingly, adding a constructor isn’t the only way to achieve the desired effect! In fact, it’s possible to satisfy this request without any modifications to the main class. Likely, you’ve already used the functionality that makes this possible—though perhaps without realizing you could use it with classes and structs you create.

However, there is a philosophical question about the appropriateness of applying this technique in this scenario. We’ll touch on this question later. Even if you decide against using the technique in this case, knowing about it hopefully will come in handy down the road when you encounter other, unquestionably appropriate situations where it can be used. Continue reading →

Security Concern: Hidden Resultset Columns

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The resultset grid shows all columns sent by the server, right? Not always! Under certain circumstances, Microsoft® SQL Server® transmits columns that weren’t referenced in the SELECT statement and that don’t show up in tools like SSMS.

How many columns does the below view return? Four seems like the obvious answer but it’s only sometimes correct. This view sometimes returns four columns—and other times returns nine!

CREATE VIEW dbo.EmployeeSummary AS
SELECT
  e.FirstName,
  e.LastName,
  dl1.MonthName + ' ' + dl1.DayString AS Birthday,
  dl2.YearString AS EmployedSince
FROM Employee e
  JOIN UserAccount u ON e.UserName = u.UserName
  JOIN EmploymentHistory h ON e.SSN = h.SSN
  JOIN DateLookup dl1 ON h.HireDate = dl1.Date
  JOIN DateLookup dl2 ON u.Birthdate = dl2.Date;

The extra five columns (shaded in yellow, below) are returned as hidden columns. They won’t appear in most query tools, yet the data they contain still crosses the wire and can be accessed programmatically on the client-side.

Resultset Continue reading →

Why You Can’t Directly Bulk Load Values
or See Them in Traces

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Bulk loading seems shrouded in mystery. You can’t directly bulk insert values using a query. However, you can bulk load using a tool like BCP, an API like SqlBulkCopy or via a query that tells SQL Server to read the rows out of a file and insert them (BULK INSERT or OPENROWSET(BULK…)). Then, if you use one of these means to do a bulk load and watch server activity using a Profiler trace or extended events, you’ll see an insert query but no row data. What’s going on?! Continue reading →

T-SQL on the Wire: What takes place between client and server?

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The answer to this question might shed light on some Microsoft® SQL Server® mysteries, might answer—or raise—security concerns and might help you administer, develop and debug better.

In this presentation, learn about Tabular Data Stream (TDS)—the protocol used for client-to-SQL Server interactions. In addition to a  high-level understanding of how TDS works, you’ll (hopefully!) come away with practical applications of this knowledge that should benefit you as a database administrator or developer.

Make It Easier for the DBA: Give SQL Connections the Application’s Name!

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Imagine you’re a database administrator tracing query activity on a server. You’d want all the clues you can get to help you figure out what’s going on. One clue is the name of the client program associated with each database session. This name, passed from client to Microsoft SQL Server when a connection is established, can be used by the DBA to differentiate between multiple applications running on a single client and to focus on (or filter out) activity from the same application across multiple clients.

Does your application pass a meaningful program name to the database server? Continue reading →

.Net Core .csproj – Automatically Packaging README.txt

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Microsoft Visual Studio gives special treatment to a README.txt file found in a NuGet package’s root directory. If README.txt is present in this folder, Visual Studio displays its contents when the package is directly installed (vs. when it is installed as a dependency).

This sounds like a great way to display notes and examples to the developer getting ready to use your package—but how do you get a readme file copied from your project into the package during the packaging process? Continue reading →

Introducing DataReaderAdapter: Adds AsDataReader()/AsDataReaderOfObjects() to IEnumerable<T>

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Yesterday, we released BenGribaudoLLC.IEnumerableHelpers.DataReaderAdapter as a NuGet package!

What does it to?

Adapts IEnumerable<T> to the IDataReader interface. Enables enumerable sequences to be used where a data reader is expected.

Great for loading data from a List<T>, LINQ expression or CSV parser into a database using SqlBulkCopy! Streams data to SqlBulkCopy, bypassing the need to first materialize the entire sequence in memory and load it into a DataTable. Continue reading →