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Ask Database Guru Brian Aker
Brian Aker is Director of Architecture for MySQL AB. He has also worked on the code (and database) that runs Slashdot, and is well-known in both Apache and Perl circles. Outside of the arcane world of open source "back-end" programming, though, hardly anyone has heard of him. This is your chance to ask Brian (hopefully after looking at his blog and Wikipedia listing) about anything you like, from Perl to database architecture to open source philosophy to upcoming events in Seattle. We'll send Brian 10 of the highest-moderated questions approximately 24 hours after this post appears. His (verbatim) answers will appear late this week or early next week.
What is your take on Google's enhancements? Do you fear that Google's upcoming code donation is going to make them a large stakeholder in the future of MySQL? What impacts (if any) do you think this will have--especially on your decisions as a director?
My work here is dung.
Do you see a future for object databases? They are quite nice for some applications, but there are no real industrial-grade OpenSource implementations.
Also, why do you select the nickname "Krow" for both Slashdot & your blog?
My work here is dung.
From your perspective, what's the biggest public misconception about MySQL and what (if anything) is MySQL AB doing to correct it?
There are no karma whores, only moderation johns
What do you see as being the biggest inhibiting factor in the world of databases? If you could snap your fingers and have one piece of software/hardware changed or removed or improved today, what would it be?
My work here is dung.
When can we get replication that isn't brutally difficult to setup and maintain.
Example, slaves that can be started blank and copy all necessary files without needing to have a copy of the databases already.
MABASPLOOM!
What were you largest challenges or features that gave you the most greif when implementing them in MySQL?
Im a gamer, not a grammer major. This post is full of spelling and grammer mistakes.
What is it about MySQL that caused you to create so much for it and to become a director for it? You're obviously very talented, why didn't you pick some other open source database (I don't mean to incite a religious war here)? Was it political? Was it because of friendships or really for technological reasons?
My work here is dung.
Are you ever tempted to throw away your open source development position for a possibly much higher paid closed source development position? If so, how do you cope with living in a capitalistic society and not taking advantage of (or even seeking for that matter) higher paying opportunities?
I mean, come on, you can't tell me you've never been offered more money (although probably a lower position) at another company. What 'keeps' you at MySQL AB?
My work here is dung.
Is it valid behavior to silently tru
Norris/Palin 2012
Fact: We deserve leaders who can kick your ass and field dress your carcass.
Are there any plans to enhance the authentication capabilities of the server to match what's available with Postgres/Oracle?
One thing I've always wished for is the ability to authenticate user/service access to databases and tables via other backends (pam_krb5, SASL, ldap, etc). This ability (imho) would result in wider adoption in certain IT shops where compliance officers and checklist junkies would opt to instead shell out for Oracle Advanced Security or something similar.
-s
So, let me get this straight: you (mySQL) use a dolphin to fetch data while PostgreSQL uses an elephant to fetch data. Would that explain why PostgreSQL is better at fetching large datasets? Like, the elephant can haul more, but is slower while the dolphin is faster, but can't carry as well? Have you thought about using a non-animal to fetch your data? Maybe a racecar? Those are fast and could probably haul as much as an elephant. Plus, then I wouldn't need to have fish or peanuts in my server room.
Well, I will ask something not related to databases, or even computing at all. From the "About Me" section in your blog, I can see you named your lovely cats Nausicaä and Kiki. I will assume that you are indeed a fan of Japanese Animation, especially the works of Hayao Myazaki. So I ask:
- What's your favorite Myazaki movie to date?
- What's the reason for this choice?
- And finally: I also love Myazaki's movies, but lately I have been struggling to find anime that I really enjoy.
They all seem repetitive and cliché. Would you dare recommend one? =)
Thank you a lot.
My best wishes for you and your cats!
If I clone myself, can I call it a thread?
If a girl winks to us, can I call it a race condition?
There are several behaviors in MySQL that are quite key to the core of the system, and which are still not being revisited. For example:
These affect performance of almost any large system. However, even with the new storage back-end, some of these fundamental "characteristics" aren't being revisited, in particular the universally derided failure to support foreign key constraint checking.
Why is MySQL so fundamentally incapable of revisiting decisions that have proven to be incorrect over time? I mean, Monty may have had reasons for making his database incapable of supporting key relational database constructs. But why are you incapable of accepting that for MySQL to have much wider scale adoption you have to remove the Monty Personality Constructs from the core limitations of the system?
For those of you who are interested, the key part here is that systems like InnoDB (which are able to process FK constraints internally) aren't able to do so efficiently, because the core locks them into row-at-a-time constraint processing, meaning that large inserts into fact tables with small dimension tables are painfully slow if you don't turn of FK constraint checking)
Any intentions of implementing any of C.J. Date's Third Manifesto proposals for implementing the new generation of relational databases? If not, why?
The bitter lessons of a veteran coder: http://bitterprogrammer.blogspot.com
Hi, Brian -
Are relational database the end-all, or do we have other promising database models to look out for? OO-databases apparently went the way of the Dodo, but what else is out there that you find interesting?
Assorted stuff I do sometimes: Lemuria.org
One of the things I've always felt is most lacking for Open Source databases is good client-side GUI tools to do ad-hoc queries, look at the database structure, assist in copying/importing/exporting data, etc. Microsoft has a pretty good tool in this area with either the SQL Enterprise Manager/Query Analyzer combo or SQL Server Management Studio.
MySQL on the other hand has a poorly-implemented, not-well-supported equivalent to Query Analyzer called MySQL Query Browser: http://www.mysql.com/products/tools/query-browser/ It's slow, crashes often (especially when called upon to list large datasets), and has tons and tons of usability flaws (the most glaring being the impossibility to select/copy the dataset to any other applications, and the failure to support standard keyboard shortcuts like Control/Command-A to Select All.)
It seems to me that MySQL Query Browser is treated, at best, as a second-class citizen in the MySQL world. Is that the case? If so, is it simply due to a lack of qualified developers for it, or is it part of a larger strategy to keep more resources working on the back-end?
In my opinion, MySQL could benefit greatly from having some really great (or at least passable!) client-side tools.
Comment of the year
It strikes me that a lot of the work that has gone into optimizing databases in the past (especially storage, index structure, and buffer management) works on the assumption that the database will be stored to a hard drive, which is way slower than main memory and has variable access times depending on the relative position of the disk head and the required data.
Nowadays there's a lot of large solid-state flash drives coming out, and as time goes on we can expect to see sizes increase and costs decrease. For small-to-medium size databases, it's now reasonable to keep the whole database on, say, one of the new 64GB memory drives. The use of drives which have a fixed, cheap cost for random access seems to invalidate and simplify a lot of the assumptions made about conventional back-end data storage, and opens up possibilities for new types of optimization (binary tree indexes instead of B+ trees, more use of indirection).
I'm wondering what you see as some of the biggest opportunities for memory-resident databases, and what work is going into MySQL to take advantage of the changes that are happening in storage.
Anonymous Luddite: "What do you think of the dehumanizing effects of the Internet?"
Andy Grove: "Not Much."
What's your opinion of SQLite, PostgreSQL, and Firebird? What do you like about them? What don't you like about them?
Do you even lift?
These aren't the 'roids you're looking for.