Author Archives: Mike Waas
how to build a query optimizer for big data
It’s time to talk about what we’ve been up to! In a series of articles, I’ll describe the motivation and background as well as the engineering tools and practices we developed over the past couple of years to attack one … Continue reading
in the rearview mirror: dbtest 2012
Organizing DBTest together with my partner in crime Eric Lo from the Polytechnic University in Hong Kong was a great experience. For a long time already we both have been very passionate about developing test methodologies for database systems in … Continue reading
impressions from SIGMOD’12
This year’s SIGMOD conference was a good excuse to visit Phoenix, Arizona. Turned out, the choice of Scottsdale as a venue was a pretty good one: I prefer conferences/workshops to be held in places without (m)any tourist attractions or distraction … Continue reading
dbtest’12: call for participation
In a few weeks, on May 21, 2012, this year’s DBTest workshop will take place colocated with SIGMOD in Scottsdale, Arizona. DBTest is a great forum for practitioners and academics alike to exchange ideas and experiences regarding quality aspects of data … Continue reading
smdb’12: reprint of EMC/Greenplum paper
Check out the latest publication from Greenplum Engineering at this year’s SMDB — ICDE’s workshop on Self-managing Database Systems. One of the authors was an intern during last summer and we asked him to do an investigation into how data … Continue reading
got phd?
After a long day of interviews, I wrapped up with a candidate the other day. Among other things, I tend to ask our guests what they’ve learned about the team, the position, and the company. Turns out, this particular candidate … Continue reading
prototypical development
Ever wondered what the Golden Gate Bridge would look like if software engineers had been tasked to build it? Chances are, after the first brainstorming, one engineer starts building a prototype — maybe over the weekend. One lane, using limestone, … Continue reading
expanding without reloading — online expansion of large-scale data warehouses
DBA’s the world over dread the day when their boss walks into their office and announces that it is time to expand the Enterprise Data Warehouse, the company’s crown jewel. While not a pleasant operation on single-node databases it means … Continue reading
dbtest 2011
A few weeks ago, the latest edition of the DBTest workshop took place. As in the years before, the workshop was held in connection with SIGMOD, meant to draw a good crowd of practitioners. And draw it did: the gathering … Continue reading
sigmod’11: preview of EMC/DCD paper
We’ve seen quite a number of papers co-authored by folks from our R&D organization. The latest addition is by Mohamed Soliman at this year’s SIGMOD conference. Find the paper here.