Author Archives: Martin Packer

(Originally posted 2014-04-26.) I’ll admit I’ve found regular expressions a bit of a struggle. I bet most people have. For me it’s a matter of lots of arcane symbols that don’t have any inherent meaning. Contrast with many programming languages, which do have some. It’s also not the case I don’t understand the concepts. AnyhowContinue reading “TSO Regular Expression Testing Tool”

(Originally posted 2014-04-14.) This post adds some additional DB2 Version 10 specifics to what I mentioned in New zIIP Capacity Planning Presentation. I said this would be a living presentation, and so it has proven to be. It’s had two outings so far and there are a couple more confirmed. First the times I’ve givenContinue reading “zIIP And DB2 Version 10 DBM1”

(Originally posted 2014-04-01.) There’s been some interest recently in whether a zBC12 as a standalone Coupling Facility would be a good idea. Having replied to one such question in email form I can count that as a draft for a blog post on the subject. It’s a complex question as are most about Parallel SysplexContinue reading “zBC12 As A Standalone Coupling Facility?”

(Originally posted 2014-03-23.) I’m writing about intervals again.[1] Two things have occasioned this: I’ve been updating my code for DB2 Versions 10 and 11[2]. I’ve dealt recently with customers with unhelpful SMF or RMF intervals. As I’ve said before it’s important to understand the provenance of the data you’re using. This would be true whetherContinue reading “After A Decent Interval”

(Originally posted 2014-03-15.) As you know I mainly deal in SMF data (and other machine-generated instrumentation). While I’m perfectly adept at conducting interviews and handling evidence from real live people there’s much merit in instrumentation. I’m also not keen on just replaying what you say back at you, with no value added in the process.Continue reading “Machines (Back To Humans)”

(Originally posted 2014-03-08.) It’s only fair to warn you this gets technical straight away. And is probably only interesting to a DB2 audience anyway. And as someone who disclaims on his DB2 knowledge anyway you might not want to read this. 🙂 Still with me? Excellent! As described in Coping With DB2 Version 10 AndContinue reading “And Some More Things On The Way To DB2 Version 11”

(Originally posted 2014-03-08.) I’ve said this many times: I’m not a DB2 person but I’ve bluffed my way in DB2 for many a year.[1] Perhaps that’s why I don’t get to use my DB2 analysis code nearly as much as I’d like. So it’s perhaps not so surprising my code fell behind when it cameContinue reading “Coping With DB2 Version 10 And Preparing For DB2 Version 11”

(Originally posted 2014-03-01.) The subtext of this post is “do try and keep up” – which is directed at me as much as anybody. 🙂 And is a perpetual state of being when you’re dealing with evolving SMF data and enterprise computing environments. When I look at a system’s memory usage my code produces whatContinue reading “What We Share And What We Have In Common”

(Originally posted 2014-02-23.) As you might know I like maths, particularly algebra. (If you’ve read Another Neat Piece Of Algebra – Series Summation and Hello, I’m Martin And I’m An Algebraic 🙂 you do.) If there’s one thing I would be doing if I weren’t doing this[1] it might be teaching maths – but itContinue reading “Factorise – For Your Eyes”

.variable { font-style:italic; font-size: 125%; } .exponent { font-size: 75%; vertical-align: super; } .equation { background: #ccffcc; padding: 10px; box-shadow: 10px 10px 5px #888888; display: inline-block; } .bracket:before { content:”(“; } .bracket:after { content:”)”; } .wrong { color: #ff0000; } .right { color: #00ff00; } // Create HTML to display polynomial // Assumes: 1) AllContinue reading “Factorise”