Interesting Stuff - Week 47

Throughout the week, I read a lot of blog-posts, articles, etc., that has to do with things that interest me

data science
data in general
distributed computing
SQL Server
transactions (both db as well as non db)
and other “stuff”

This is the “roundup” of the posts that has been most interesting to me, for the week just gone by.

This week was a “meager catch”, maybe because of the holiday in US, but very little caught my eye. Anyway, here is what I have.

Streaming

Transactions in Apache Kafka. A while ago Apache Kafka introduced a transaction API. This post gives a high level overview of said API. Being a database “nerd”, this is awesome!!
Looking Ahead to Apache Flink 1.4.0 and 1.5.0. Heh, I swear - it seems that Kafka and Flink are in lock-step, releasing posts about new functionality, or - like in this case - ideas about new functionality. Anyway, this post is about thoughts about new functionality in upcoming Flink versions.

Data Science

How to make Python easier for the R user: revoscalepy. David at Revolution Analytics had a post about making Python easier if you aRe an R guy (or girl). However, I can’t seem to fin that post now, so the link is for the MSDN introduction to revoscalepy.

SQL Server

TSQL Tuesday 96 Round-up. A couple of weeks ago Ewald hosted T-SQL Tuesday, and as it was right after PASS, he chose a non-technical subject, where he asked the community to post about persons who have made a contribution to their world of data. In this post Ewald does a summary of who wrote posts about who.

TSQL Tuesday 96

OK, I didn’t contribute to TSQL Tuesday 96 (so shoot me). However having included Ewald’s post above in this week’s round-up, I started thinking about people that have inspired/influenced me in the world of data. In reality, there are so many, but I stuck to the “rule of three” (I have no idea what it means, but it sounds good). So, without further ado:

Don Box. Sure, I know. Don is not a database person - trust me I know! However if it hadn’t been for Don, there would not have been no DevelopMentor, if no DevelopMentor, no spelunking, no teaching SQL Server, without teaching SQL Server I would not have … So Don has been a great influencer!
Ken Henderson. Ken passed away - way, way, way too early - in 2008, and the SQL Server community suffered a huge loss! His The Guru’s Guide to SQL Server Architecture and Internals had been a constant companion and source for ideas for me, and without that “tome” I wouldn’t be where I am today.
Pat Helland. What can I say, from transaction monitors together with Jim Gray at Tandem and later at Microsoft, to SQL Server Service Broker also at Microsoft, to distributed computing in general - Pat is a legend. His thoughts and ideas are provoking and inspiring, and I am learning constantly!

SQL Server R Services

Microsoft SQL Server R Services - Internals XIV. After many a false starts I finally managed to get the post about Binary eXchange Language (BXL) out! And for you who have followed my posts in the Internals series, where I have talked about extremely big BXL packets - I know what causes it, but I do not know why.

~ Finally

That’s all for this week. I hope you enjoy what I did put together. If you have ideas for what to cover, please comment on this post or ping me.