Benjy's IT Blog

As a Full Stack Developer I write a lot of Transact SQL and sometimes I get into the habit of writing regular queries, and if it becomes more complex I might write an .ASP page that has queries within queries (which I hate to do) but sometimes it's a quick report and you're just wanting to get it done. But today, for whatever reason I was like, why don't you try using a SQL View.  A SQL View is a virtual table based on the result-set of a SQL statement.  I've written Views here and there in the past but sometimes I just forget how useful they can be. So when looking at my scenarios for this report, I was trying to get my creative juices flowing.  How can I make this query simple and efficient?  How can I limit my code to get this particular task completed?  How can I compare the value in one table to values in another that had some business logic behind it (that being the View). I was pretty happy with the end result as it only took me about one hour to complete a

I'm always looking for good books and I found another resource of books to read for developers that aren't necessarily focused on programming.  As a programmer I'm always reading some kind of programming book or online resource every day.  But it's those "other" books that help us do our job even better and help us grow professionally.  I'm in the midst of reading The New Psycho-Cybernetics  by Dr. Mawell Maltz still, and I really like the book.  And if you're looking to succeed even more or work on your self-image this is the book for you! Anyhow, I came across this article by Lou Bichard called  8 Non-Programming Books That Will Boost Your Programmer Career  - some of the books seem very interesting and I plan on putting some of these on my list of "to do" reads. Happy reading!

I read this article by Lulu Chang about  a New York Times reporter downloading and viewing his Facebook data  - and was amazed at some of the findings he mentioned in the article.  It's very alarming because for some reason Facebook had all his contacts and phone numbers in the data, and several Advertisers with his contact information. So I decided to download my own data to see what information they're storing on me! (instructions on how to do this is in another blog entry of mine called  How to Delete Facebook  . Well, here's what they: Profile information: this includes your registration date, has your phone number, email, birthday, gender, relationship status and previous relationships!  Family, education and a big list of Other, which I'm not sure where or how this data is obtained but it looks like if I LIKED something someone posted for a certain location it records that info under Other. Ads: probably the most disturbing section is seeing Advertisers

This is a question I've been asking myself a lot lately after seeing the term sprinkled among IT blogs and articles.  As a software developer I've never had to work with Powershell, but I have read that it's a useful tool to know, even as a developer. Today I came an article by Ryan Palo called  Powershell Tutorial (Especially for those who hate Powershell)  - and it gave me a better understanding of how to use and what it's used for.  Since I'm not an IT Administrator, I've not had to use this tool, but I can see why administrators would love this, especially in a large network.  I did open up Powershell, which BTW is run on the .NET framework, and went through some of the commands as explained in the article.  And I can see why some people would hate Powershell.  I'm not going to say I "hate" it because that's a really strong word.  I'm sure the more you use it, and the more you become comfortable with Powershell, you would start liki

So one of the new languages I've been wanting to learn is Python.  Python, named after the U.K.'s Monty Python has become a very popular language and is used in websites such as Instagram and Pinterest. It took a little more time to figure out what to download and which resources to use online to learn Python (as compared to PHP), but I came across this  article on Real Python - it gives a little history about the language, the different versions available, how to install it on your pc, and tutorials on how to code the language. The instructions were very good and once I found this article I was up and running in a few hours writing my first Python code.  Of course the syntax is a little different but the language does remind me of java script somewhat.  I'm only in the beginning stages of learning Python but from what I've read, the sky is the limit with this language. I'm looking forward to becoming much more proficient in Python!  And if you're wanting

So, in setting my yearly goals I've decided to review those goals quarterly.  I think this is a good way to see how I'm progressing and also see if there any modifications I need to make.  Sometimes we set goals and lose focus of them, so every 3 months is a good way to get back on track, that is if you've gone off track :). But it also gives you the chance to enhance your goals!  For example, one of my goals was to read a book every quarter, but I'm way ahead of that goal.  I'm already in the middle of my second book, Psycho-Cybernetics.  So, do I change my goals and make them more challenging?  Well, it really all depends; what I decided to do was learn a new language using Audiobooks.  I've been studying German, and I decided to do so knowing I'm way ahead of my reading the books.  Studying German wasn't a goal of mine starting Jan 1, but you will find that if you stick to your goals, you'll create even more goals on the way to keep you challe