Feb 4: asktom.oracle.com

It's good to see Tom Kyte back in action after a brief hiatus from asktom, although good luck to him with his next one, because I'm sure it did him the world of good and an occasional break harms no-one.

Anyway, this is a lovely, succinct description of the appropriate use of Parallel Execution.

As for this one, I think it's best if I just duck and run ;-)

Posted by Doug Burns Comments: (8) Trackbacks: (0)

Trackbacks
Trackback specific URI for this entry

No Trackbacks

Comments
Display comments as (Linear | Threaded)

#1 - Howard Rogers said:
2007-02-05 01:11 - (Reply)

The answer to the last one is dead easy: there's no way, no how a developer can "evolute" into a DBA.

"Evolute" is a noun: "the locus of the centers of curvature of, or the envelope of the normals to, another curve." You cannot therefore meaningfully "evolute" from anything to any other thing.

One presumes that the author meant "evolve" -and the inability to use language properly or meaningfully means the author is definitely developer material and hasn't a hope in hell of making to DBA standard.

#1.1 - Alex Gorbachev said:
2007-02-05 02:08 - (Reply)

Howard, I know quite a few people that are excellent in what they do (be it DBA or developer or someone else) but who do not have strong command of English.
On the other hand, I know much more people who have very good English language skills but suck in what they do.

#1.1.1 - Howard Rogers said:
2007-02-05 02:21 - (Reply)

People need to learn how to read properly, too: Which bit of my post used the word 'English', Alex?

I quote: "the inability to use language properly or meaningfully..."

"Language": a generic term, implying no one specific language at all.

If you can't communicate properly in *whatever* language you happen to use, then you really can't be 'excellent at what [you] do'. Period.

What next? 'Well, when I said 'evolute', I really meant 'evolve'. And when I said 'truncate table' I actually meant 'create index' ...close enough!'??

I don't think so.

#1.1.1.1 - Alex Gorbachev said:
2007-02-05 03:19 - (Reply)

and read between the lines too - we speak about ability of particular person to use English language. No? But I fully agree - it's valid for any other human language. Though, not for computer languages.

For a while I happen to live in countries speaking other than my native language. It's quite hard to make yourself willing to learn new language while being afraid to make a stupid mistake such as using "evolute" instead of "evolve". It's not my subjective opinion but feeling of quite a few people learning new language.

I also happen to feel the difference between people appreciating your attempts to speak the language and ones who look at you as second-grade even though she/he gets paid 4 times less and forced to do a boring job. Sorry, I digress.

Perhaps, I got confused but I really don't understand your logic connecting particular language skills with ability to transform from a developer to a DBA. The guy asking question is probably not a native English speaker and he was able to pick it up and express his concerns comprehensively and everyone understood what he meant by "evolute". What makes you think that he couldn't make it from developer to DBA then?

#1.1.1.1.1 - Howard Rogers said:
2007-02-05 04:10 - (Reply)

I'll say it just one more time. I didn't mention English and I wasn't "speak[ing] about ability of particular person to use English language", so please don't put words in my mouth.

I was making a general (and light-hearted, but that's obviously been missed, too) point that the inability to express oneself clearly and precisely -no matter the specific language involved- is a serious detriment to getting on in a highly technical environment. Aeroplanes have crashed because of pilots haven't been able to understand the air traffic controller, for example.

And part of being able to express oneself clearly and precisely is knowing the meaning of words (or being prepared to look 'em up when you can't remember). And if we all have to sit there mentally noting, 'Well, he said evolute and I GUESS that he meant evolve', we're on a slippery slope to failure.

Your idea that in a technical environment it's OK to use one word to mean another therefore doesn't warrant much further discussion, I think.

#1.1.1.1.1.1 - Alex Gorbachev said:
2007-02-05 04:47 - (Reply)

Indeed, I would prefer to discuss it over beers and preferably in Sydney as it's way too cold here in Ottawa these days.

#1.1.1.1.1.1.1 - Doug Burns said:
2007-02-05 08:23 - (Reply)

Well, I think you gentlemen have both had your say with each other so without wanting to extend the discussion at all I will vouch for the fact that, whilst Alex's command of English isn't 100%, it's like Shakespeare's compared to my command of Russian. As for his command of Russian, he's translated a few nifty phrases for me, but I suspect they don't work as well.

As for his Oracle skills, well they are noticeably superior to mine and that's not false modesty - I have skills of my own.

Just sticking up for a touchy, intellectual Russian mate ;-)

#2 - Doug Burns said:
2007-02-05 01:47 - (Reply)

LOL ;-)

I was looking forward to watching the questioner evolute into something.


Add Comment

Standard emoticons like :-) and ;-) are converted to images.
E-Mail addresses will not be displayed and will only be used for E-Mail notifications.
BBCode format allowed