Just Five Mins!

Memory-Optimized Tables, also known as In-Memory OLTP, were introduced in SQL Server 2014. This feature was further enhanced in subsequent versions of SQL Server, including SQL Server 2016, 2017, and in Azure. However, in Azure, they're only available in the Premium tier. Memory-Optimized Tables in SQL Server are a feature that provides significant performance improvements by storing table data in...

I tried to do a “simple” overview of vector databases back in September 2023 (Episode 57 if you really want to know). I tried to get a basic overview back then and now, I figured, I would try to delve into this a little deeper. Oh, that was such a wrong decision! (or was it?) Vector databases, or at least vectors, are nothing that new but vector databases do seem to be quite a new thing although I...

So, you don’t want to go down the whole ETL (Extract Transform Load) route in order to access external data from your Microsoft SQL server? Okay, what about MS SQL Polybase? Take a listen to learn more and to see how you could access external data using T-SQL without having to ETL the data into your environment - leaving the external data where it is. For me personally, the CSV option via say Amaz...

We all love JSON data, don’t we? Well, unless you are working with JSON directly from say C# or whatever flavour of language you use, working with JSON data can be a challenge sometimes. Sure, if you are in native JavaScript land or one of the many plethora of JS frameworks, then “JavaScript Object Notation” (aka JSON) isn’t much use! jq is a really neat command line JSON processor . Written in po...

Okay, so just to be clear, DAB (Data API Builder) doesn’t simply expose your database ;) better make that clear! However, when you need to build the key components to work with a database i.e. CRUD (Create, Read, Update and Delete), then you can of course use whatever method you like. But what if an API can be delivered for you? better still you can have REST or GraphQL or both! Oh, and yes, it wo...

What is the most popular database engine around? Well, a good contender is SQLite - it has been around for years and is in pretty much every device! yes, inside your Android and iPhone as well as many others including the web browser (I have only looked at using via WASM BTW!). SQLite is a flat file based SQL database with some rather nifty features (including functions, CTE and JSON support via p...

Well, perhaps this should have been one for my other podcast (just experimenting with “What’s going on with…”) although, here it is trying to fit within just five minutes - not a chance!! :) Okay, so a ramble it is! Covering some AI investment observations as well as AI hardware - the brutal world of trying something new and attempting to break ground into new markets, even if you don’t need them...

I think I covered some basics about Docker dev containers a while ago when it was new’ish in beta. Recently, I have been playing more and more with dev containers to save cluttering up my local machine and being able to be truly portable. I can take my dev container with me :) Windows, Mac, Linux - all works the same. What is really fun is being able to say develop dotnet with SQL Server within a...

GitHub Copilot is great, you do have to pay and it integrates nicely with VSCode and Visual Studio but what if there was a generic AI code assistant that is free to use and you can use it anywhere (not on the moon I am guessing)? Codeium is the tool we are talking about . It has a lovely free account that is pretty feature rich and you can use it all over the place! in your favourite IDE/text edit...

Well, it was Microsoft build conference recently and although there were some interesting announcements most were, of course, AI and Copilot related. I have to say though, the new ARM based Windows “Copilot + PC’s” (my goodness, they need a better name!) do look rather interesting! New Windows 11 File Explorer - 7-zip/TAR and built in GIT source control Windows Copilot + PCs Copilot runtime and li...

Well, moving single pieces of data from one system to other systems isn’t too complicated. What happens when you need to move batches of data? This is an old problem and an older scenario for sure - nothing that new here! Perhaps, just tweaking how you might approach staging data, might help. That is what I am talking about today :) Get full access to Just Five Mins! at www.justfivemins.com/subscr...

Well, Tim Abel returns! My good friend Tim (see the link above for more about him!) kindly joined me to discuss software testing - specifically outside in testing! This podcast came about after I had listened to Tim’s podcast episode , and this spurred me on to ask a few questions! (well, three actually!) Since Tim is a contract developer/team lead type of person, he has some wonderful experience...

Well, YARP - the open-source Microsoft dotnet (or .NET if you are old school!) reverse proxy (Yet Another Reverse Proxy). If you have watched the movie Hot Fuzz or live in the west country UK, then this might steal a laugh: Hot Fuzz YARP! So, YARP is used internally by Microsoft and within Azure I believe. It is essentially a web-service you configure to handle routing, authentication, transformat...

Well, another recording, ramble mode enabled (is it ever switched off?). If 2023 brought AI to the masses, then 2024 seems to be the rise of AI hardware. AI in your pocket (or in this case on your clothes!). Take a listen to get a quick (ish) overview of two AI devices pushing into our lives :) The humane AI pin The new re-branded limitless.ai software and AI pendant Get full access to Just Five M...

Okay, a “real” ramble for a public holiday (well, here in the UK at least). dApps, smart contracts, blockchain? what the heck is all of this! Well, you must have heard of Bitcoin right? Ethereum (which has been around since approx. 2015) has had this idea of smart contracts where developers can create dApps for various distributed blockchain applications - everything from logistics type stuff to p...

Using .NET/dotnet? need some easy AI? Using at least dotnet 6? Smart components - from the great mind(s) that brought you Blazor! Still an experiment at the moment, but a neat way to create drop-in-replacement of say text boxes/text areas and combo/dropdown boxes that use some magic AI. Use cases are actually quite subtle and useful. Check out the podcast for further info and we have some links be...

So, more note taking apps! I am still a steadfast OneNote user and I have tried Notion as well as Microsoft Loop of late. Obsidian was something a saw a couple of years back but looked really basic. The selling point at the time (and one of the main points still) is your notes are stored locally or wherever you decided to save them i.e. not directly linked to a cloud provider like Microsoft, Googl...

… a bit like Michael Jackson’s “filler” song ;) Well, just a ramble (what’s new?) about a few odd things I have been reading. Amazon DynamoDB - How many requests per second? !! In 2021, there was a 66-hour Amazon Prime Day shopping event. The event generated some staggering stats: ○ Trillions of API calls were made to the database by Amazon applications. ○ The peak load to the database reached 89...

Well, Unicorns aside for a moment, let us delve into the world of API gateways and why you might need one - certainly if you build API’s that is! I have used Azure API gateway management for quite some years now, since it first appeared on Azure actually! But that’s nothing to brag about since it has changed immensely over recent years. So why do you need an API gateway? what’s in it for me you mi...

Work with databases? especially Microsoft SQL Server or Azure SQL? then roll up, roll up for yet more AI - just when you think you can’t eat anymore AI, there is room for just a bit more :) Optionally (and it is a bit gross in a funny way) it reminds me off Monty Python’s Mr Creosote: Anyway, back to business! Even though the name “Azure Data Studio” has “Azure” in it, you can use it as an updated...

I can just hear the Rocky theme music (eye of the tiger) playing in the background… So, why produce a filler episode? hey well all TV series seem to so why not me! Nothing too detailed this time around just the sheer gasp of the revenue these cloud providers are making. Sit back, sip your favourite beverage, and perhaps perform a good old face palm (is that still a thing?) at the magnitude of thes...

AI Overload (for now!) Oh yes, AI overload for sure! This time around we take a casual stroll around Open AI assistants and GPTs.   GPTs are custom chatGPT instances anyone can create.  For example, you can create your own GPT to allow an upload of PDFs (or several) and perform some "chatGPT" type stuff on that or those specific PDFs.  Lots more you can do, so check the links below. Assistants are...

Welcome back!   For this episode, kindly suggested by my good friend Tim Abell , we have a privacy first knowledge management app for all of your devices.  You could download the code, run as a docker container which means you could keep everything on your own environment instead of letting those massive corporations control you! ( :) ). Anyway, take a listen for more and the links as mentioned ar...

We all love to aspire to be something better :)  even robots! .NET Aspire is a new way to build out microservice type projects.  I believe I am correct in saying Aspire definitely had some foundations from project TYE which was an experiment a year or so back. In addition, DAPR is also a similar offering however, Aspire aims to be rather opinionated (which can be a good thing!) and DAPR is more of...

Welcome back.  Whhhaaassup with WASM and WASI - look, I'm trying okay! Anyway, WASM and WASI - what does all of this mean? That is what we are talking about today!   Some links on WASM/WASI: Get on the Blazor Train - WASM from the dotnet world Original JFM about Fermyon From the dotnet perspective - WASM/WASI The next level of cloud compute? Get full access to Just Five Mins! at www.justfivemins.c...