Its a SQL tour through the DB2 TPC-C benchmark implementation. This article introduces advanced SQL features which are being used in IBM DB2 Universal Database for Linux, UNIX, and Windows TPC-C benchmarks. Find out how to use efficient SQL query plans, which in turn will mean that the only codepath that is necessary will be executed.

Apple Computer this afternoon seeded developers with build 7S210 of Mac OS X 10.3.7. With this latest latest build, Apple has asked that developers focus their testing efforts on audio, printing, storage or audio-based FireWire devices, and graphic intensive games that utilize OpenGL.

The November edition of the Syllable Development Newsletter is now available -- highlights include kernel work, Glibc updates and more. Additionally, plans are underway for SYL-CON, a user and developer meetup. See this post or contact Mike if you're interested.

A quick visit to Frys Electronics last weekend left me with (yet another) webcam. But not an ordinary webcam: this is an utrla tiny cam, created specifically to mount on laptops!

In part three of this three-part series, the authors offer a real-world implementation example of how the Analytics Acceleration Grid Environment (AAGE) can be used to deliver a virtual system environment that supports a wide range of application requirements, and makes the best, most efficient use of computing resources and data regardless of where or in what format they reside.

According to WindowsForDevices, Microsoft's Mobile and Embedded Devices Group has just released the final version of Windows XP Embedded with Service Pack 2. The latest release of the componentized version of Windows XP -- targeting a wide range of embedded systems and devices -- is now available for free download from Microsoft's website. The free 120-day evaluation software kit comprises the entire product including binaries and tools, and can be used to develop, build, deploy, and test a target OS image in a real device.

The MSDN Magazine Dec 2004 is released with articles of Windows developer interest. Articles include Operators in Basic, .NET Code tuning and profiling, Optimization for .NET apps on PocketPCs.

There won't be just one Longhorn Server. Instead, there will be nearly a dozen customizable variants, partners say.

The python final release of Python 2.4 was just released. Python 2.4 is the result of almost 18 month's worth of work on top of Python 2.3. New features are, but not limited to, function decorators, generator expressions, a number of new module and more.

The Linux distro is due to release a version of its operating system that can be run directly off a CD-ROM, so that people can try Gentoo without installing it.

Datamation ran an article about databases running on OpenVMS that never die or quit. These databases have uptimes longer than the existance of Linux and definitely longer that Microsoft product lifetimes. Here's the article.

Alistair Crooks announced today that the NetBSD Packages Team will start a freeze on the pkgsrc tree in order to prepare for the release of the fourth stable branch, pkgsrc-2004Q4. The freeze will begin on December 6th 2004, and will last for a maximum of 2 weeks, during which the developers will bring down the PR count and fix problems shown by the bulk builds. Update: LiveCD/ISO instructions.

Charles Keenan provides specific tasks for setting up a Serviceguard high availability cluster on HP-UX/Linux, including example commands to help illustrate key points.

Learn how to write your own resource-management code when you create types that contain resources other than memory, particularly for disposing of nonmemory resources.