Mike Sherrill 'Catcall'

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1,426 reputation
411
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location United States
age 57
visits member for 2 years, 1 month
seen Jun 10 at 23:42
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Long-time database design and software development consultant. My clients included evetrything from Fortune 100 companies to non-profits and mom-and-pop companies. I've worked with SQL databases since 1985. I'm a database generalist; I'm comfortable with every modern SQL dbms. My home server runs a half-dozen different database management systems. I test most of my answers under more than one of them.

I've also developed relational models for implementation in non-SQL environments, like Lotus Notes and plain C++ code.

I'm known for frequently saying

  • ID numbers have nothing to do with normalization.
  • Everything you know about state codes is wrong.
  • Table names, column names, etc., are your database's API.
  • Natural keys reduce the number of joins, and often improve performance.
  • 5NF is your friend.
  • Don't assume. Test.

27 Answers

newest activity votes
36
Co-worker renamed all of my queries
jul 7 '11 at 12:41
28
What should take precedence: YAGNI or Good Design?
sep 16 '11 at 13:12
19
Design flaws and dealing with humiliation from it
aug 4 '11 at 15:34
10
Do the scattered tools and lack of rich IDE makes Ruby and Python only suitable for hobbyists?
jul 24 '11 at 17:32
9
When not to use ORM and prefer stored procedures?
mar 12 '12 at 11:08
9
How to improve my trade
jul 22 '11 at 10:59
5
Is there any hope for writing good code atop a horribly designed database?
jun 2 '11 at 17:22
4
Does writing a programming blog reduce your learning speed, compared to reading other people's blogs only?
aug 22 '11 at 14:48
3
What is the best way to INSERT a large dataset into a MySQL database (or any database in general)
sep 6 '11 at 15:43
3
What can a senior programmer do that a junior can't?
jul 9 '11 at 15:04
3
How to convince my boss that quality is a good thing to have in code?
jun 29 '11 at 1:10
3
Why most people change from being a contractor to full time at my companies, but not the other way around?
may 7 '11 at 2:48
2
Multitasking how to keep track of what you're doing
aug 29 '11 at 17:54
2
Developing cross-DB applications
jul 26 '11 at 13:26
2
Are there serious companies that don't use version-control and continuous integration? Why?
jun 29 '11 at 23:40
2
Giving employer power of attorney to obtain your inventions
jun 15 '11 at 19:05
1
Suggestions for useful “databases health” dashboard
mar 31 at 1:32
1
What does long-term freelancing say about a developer's experience?
sep 24 '11 at 23:12
1
How can a maintenance-only programmer get a raise?
sep 17 '11 at 18:57
1
How should I communicate the specifics of cloud computing (as compared to other)
sep 14 '11 at 14:38
1
Why most of large corporations websites are bad?
sep 11 '11 at 13:38
1
Source Control on a Live Shared Hosting Site
may 8 '11 at 18:49
0
If not working an internship, should I work for free?
oct 7 '11 at 16:08
0
Over normalization in database
aug 31 '11 at 10:56
0
What is a dedicated Linux box used for?
jun 24 '11 at 13:44
0
Could an internal rep, voting and badges encourage good programming practices?
jun 17 '11 at 15:57
-1
What's the difference between syntax and semantics?
oct 12 '11 at 10:30