mssql-cli, the command-line for querying SQL Servers

The public preview was announced in December last year. Now there is an update.

Read here.

You can download mssql-cli from here:

Using mssql-cli you get to do all this:

    T-SQL IntelliSense

    Syntax highlighting

    Pretty formatting for query results, including Vertical Format

    Multi-line edit mode

    Configuration file support

You can install mssql-cli if you have Python on your computer. For Windows you can install Python from here and make sure it is added to your PATH.

https://www.python.org/downloads/

"

Install the tools for Mac El Capitan and Sierra

/usr/bin/ruby -e “$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/master/install)”
brew tap microsoft/mssql-preview https://github.com/Microsoft/homebrew-mssql-preview
brew update
brew install –no-sandbox msodbcsql mssql-tools
#for silent install ACCEPT_EULA=y brew install –no-sandbox msodbcsql mssql-tools
"

https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/dataplatforminsider/2017/04/03/sql-server-command-line-tools-for-mac-preview-now-available/

SQL evolves to U-SQL, language under development at Microsoft

While SQL covered the RDBMS landscape U-SQL covers a much larger data landscape.

At the same time as the announcement of Azure Data Lake Services, a new language under development at Microsoft, the U-SQL language was also announced. For the Azure Data Lake Service and what it means to business read here.

With the advent of Big Data and the task of mining all kinds of data, RDBMS suddenly found itself at a disadvantage. Structured Query Language (SQL) could only address what is in a relational data store. U-SQL was born to address this challenge posed by Big Data defined by volume, velocity and variety.

What is U-SQL
U-SQL deep dives into Big Data to extract the most relevant information. It is a powerful language (in the words of Microsoft):

• Process any type of data. From analyzing BotNet attack patterns from security logs to extracting features from images and videos for machine learning, the language needs to enable you to work on any data.
• Use custom code easily to express your complex, often proprietary business algorithms. The example scenarios above may all require custom processing that is often not easily expressed in standard query languages, ranging from user defined functions, to custom input and output formats.
• Scale efficiently to any size of data without you focusing on scale-out topologies, plumbing code, or limitations of a specific distributed infrastructure.

Compared to HIVE, a SQL-Based language U-SQL is flexible and does not have the limited capability to address the 'variety' in non-structured data requiring schema generation prior to running queries. U-SQL should prove more easy to use than Hive for complex scenarios.

U-SQL has been designed as declarative SQL based language with native extensibility through user code in C#. This approach:

• Unifies SQL and C#
• Unifies structured and Unstructured
• Unifies declarative and custom code

U-SQL is based on SCOPE which is based on  existing prior languages, ANSI-SQL, T-SQL and HIVE. U-SQL should present a less steeper curve for those who are using SQL already.

U-SQL is an important development that developer need to jump on.

Teradata is gearing up embracing Presto

Teradata has joined the open source Presto community. Presto is the distributed SQL query engine used by big data innovators/users like Facebook, Netflix and others. Presto is almost a universal SQL query engine that supports any Hadoop distribution.

Justin Borgman's post cites Facebook as the heavy user with impressive usage statistics. Presto is not only SQL for querying Hadoop but querying all kinds of data platforms (MySQL, Postgres, Kafka, and Cassandra) in data lake* including mash ups of data from diverse sources.

Teradata has a multiyear roadmap to make it enterprise ready and it should be ready in 2016, that's not so far away either. Of course Teradata will be looking forward to contributions from the open source community.

TeradataPresto01

 

You can download the version of the initial software from here.

TeradataPresto2
SQL Server 2016 with its Polybase can also query Hadoop with T-SQL and is very flexible. It can use the splendid BI capabilities built-in to SQL Server 2016 and is ready now. Besides Microsoft there are many others as well to take Big Data,  and slice and dice.

*data lake: A massive, easily accessible data repository built on (relatively) inexpensive computer hardware for storing "big data". Unlike data marts, which are optimized for data analysis by storing only some attributes and dropping data below the level aggregation, a data lake is designed to retain all attributes, especially so when you do not yet know what the scope of data or its use will be.

SQL Server Training in Honolulu: SQL Server 2012 related training at PCATT

These are the training schedules for the2nd Quarter of 2014 at Pacific Center for Advanced Technical Training(PCATT). There are two courses that you may be interested in, it is recommended that they are taken in the order shown to reap maximum benefit.

You can also access the reviews of the previous session in 2013 at the PCATT site.

Introduction to Structured Query Language (SQL)

 

SQL Server Reporting Services 2012: Native Mode Implementation

Please register with  http://pcatt.org/registration    or send an email to gcerny@hawaii.edu

 

Oct 2009 Philly.net CodeCamp a grand success

This was my second attendance at Philly.net Code Camp at DeVry in Fort Washington (Oct 17) and I found it extremely interesting.The joie de vivre was contagious and all pervasive; the attendance was massive; the tracks were plenty and plenty of tracks covering most of everything about Microsoft products. The organizers must be congratulated for their excellent work.

I attended and sampled the various talks and the impression I carry is very positive. There were tracks for the beginners as well as for those who were already adept with many years of field experience.

I attended the following talks:

In Joshua Lynn's, ‘Advanced Workflow Process in T-SQL', he discussed the subtle differences between Exec and sp_executesql; executing dynamic strings; inversion of control, DQSM etc.

Miguel Castro did an excellent job of uncovering the innards of ASP.NET in his 'Understanding ASP.NET Under the covers'. He had seriously prepared and the talk (mostly on HTTP) was very informative and detailed.

John Angelini in his 'XAML Animation' did a good job of explaining Xaml animation both using Code and Expression Studio. I wish I were nearer to the screen. The code is too crowded to see from a distance.

Tim Dodd's 'Case Study: Clouds Demystified' was very informative. This was mostly infrastructure related and would have been more interesting if a portion of the talk was spent on laying the ground work for the general audience.

Chris Rolon's 'Introduction to SQL Azure' was very informative as he described his own experience in working with this product which is still in CTP. His presentation was clear and concise.

Well, I plan to attend the Code Camp coming April and if any of you are near Philly or South Jersy, I urge you to register with Philly.net.