Code Examples and Developer Resources
United States Census Bureau Data by API
To improve access to Census data the United States Census Bureau provides API access to some data sets.
Obtaining Census Bureau data directly from the Census Bureau APIs
Calendar-Event Database Application
Designing the Calendar-Event Database Application This is a full calendar subsystem with the ability to add events as single events, or repeating events between start and end dates on specific days of the week or days of the month. Holidays or events can be added for a specific day of a specific week. For example, the first Friday of a single month, and repeating every week or every month between start and end dates.
There is also a simple Calendar database. This is a single table with all of the date math precomputed and many holidays already entered into the table. The coverage provided by this database is 1-January-2009 to 6-June-2031. There are day of the week and month of the year tables so the language of the days and months can be changed to languages other than English. There is more about this database near the bottom of this page.
Technical Blog
Notes on Automation in Application Development
A Brief Personal Exploration of Software Development Philosophy and Practice and The Software Development Team
A Brief Explanation of How Database Server Software Works
A Brief Explanation of Designing a Normalized Database
A Brief Explanation of the evolution of XML
Using SQL to understand and document SQL Server databases
SQL Server Scripts for Database Design and Maintenance
- How the SQL Scripts Access Information about Database Objects
- Sample Outputs from the SQL Server Scripts
Futher Resources
My posts on this site are just subjects that caught my attention for a moment. If you are looking for an organized approach to SQL Server database subjects try:
Joe Celko's Stairway to Database Design on SQLServerCentral.com
Robyn Page's SQL Server DATE/TIME Workbench from Redgate Software's simple-talk newsletter
Mark S Rasmussen's SQL Server Storage Internals 101 from Redgate Software's simple-talk newsletter
Older Resources
- A few small JavaScript and jQuery functions
- I have spent some time writing or finding JavaScript and jQuery string functions and dynamic formatting functions that provide maximum functionality with minimum code. If you are interested in the code, use view source (Ctrl+u).
- A Simple Calendar Database you can Download
- Pre-calculating business days and holidays simplifies all kinds of date calculations and makes it possible to access this data through normal data access code and business logic code.
The calendar includes secular, Christian, and Jewish holidays. I would have included more Islamic holidays, but the major Islamic holidays are not computed, they are determined by astronomic observation each year. The vagaries of visual observation can cause the date of a holy day to vary by a day.
- This calendar covers January 2010 through May 2032. There are over 8,000 dates and over 2,500 holidays.
- A Database Schema for User info, Authentication, Authorization, and Managing Passwords and Login Attempts
- This database schema is the final version as documented in one of my database course sections.
Some additional links to resources for programmers.
- SQL Server and t-SQL resources
- A great resource that requires free registration, SQL Server Central
- The SQL section of simple-talk. This is probably my favorite. It covers fewer subjects but has more depth than most sites.
- SQL Server Transact-SQL Reference (Database Engine)
- stackoverflow.com SQL Server questions and answers
- Great tools for developing SQL and maintaining servers from Redgate Software. They also publish Simple Talk.
- Microsoft platform programming resources
- A Simple Table of Object Naming Conventions, compiled by myself, Conrad Muller
- MS Access 2007-2010, Maximum Capacities Table
Note: This page used to have dozens of resources, but I was too busy to keep all of the articles current. I have retained these articles because they are the most popular, and I could find time to maintain them.