Musings from The Software Underground

After an extended beta period, SQLGrinder 2 has finally been released. If you requested but didn't receive your upgrade coupon, please contact upgrades@sqlgrinder.com. My thanks to everyone who used, submitted bugs, and purchased SQLGrinder during the beta period.

There are of course new features planned and requested that didn't make the 2.0 version cutoff so stay tuned.

The press release follows:

Advenio announces SQLGrinder Version 2 for Mac Database Developers

Advenio, LLC, today announced the release of SQLGrinder version 2, an all new version of their popular database development environment for Mac OS X.

This new version has been completely rewritten from the ground up and features many new and improved features including faster overall performance, multiple editor and result set history buffers, code completion using database keywords and table, column and procedure names, client-side result set searching and sorting, sleep detection, table add, drop and truncate functionality, improved data import and export and much more.

About SQLGrinder 2 for Mac OS X

SQLGrinder, a native Mac OS X SQL editor and developer tool, allows database developers to easily create, edit and execute SQL queries as well as browse their database structures.

Using SQLGrinder and JDBC drivers, developers can connect to any database that supports JDBC, including Oracle, MySQL, PostgreSQL, FrontBase, Openbase SQL, Microsoft SQL Server and Sybase Adaptive Server Enterprise. Because SQLGrinder is built using Apple's Cocoa framework, it looks and feels like a Macintosh OS X application and adheres to Apple's Aqua Human Interface Guidelines.

SQLGrinder provides many features that add to developer productivity and make building SQL queries and database schemas easier than it has ever been on the Macintosh:

• Support for any database with an available JDBC driver


• Multiple editor windows and schema browsers


• Result sets displayed in data tables that can be searched and sorted


• Export of delimited text from data tables


• Data snapshots that provide temporary result set views


• Interactive SQL statement library that maintains query history


• Built with Cocoa, follows the Aqua Human Interface Guidelines

Pricing and availability for SQLGrinder 2

Pricing for the new version has been set at $59. Owners of the current version can purchase an upgrade for only $19 by sending their current registration information to sqlgrinder [at] advenio.com.

All requested upgrade coupons have been sent out, including those for people who purchased SQLGrinder during the beta. If for some reason you didn't receive yours, please contact us using sqlgrinder [at] advenio.com.

The SQLGrinder 2 can be downloaded from the SQLGrinder download page.

I just posted an update to MacGourmet, version 1.2.1. It's not the update I spoke of in the previous post, this is mainly a new build to fix a few problems with the original build, and to consolidate them into a point release to get everyone using the same version.

I'm still planning to try to do a pre-2.0 version 1 bug fix release, so stay tuned.

The new version can be downloaded here.

I haven't posted any updates on the next major version of MacGourmet in a while so, since a major milestone was just passed, I thought that now would be a good time for one. The next major update of MacGourmet, version 2, now has had all major new features and changes completed. This is a pretty big milestone to pass. Now what remains is a lot of clean up, bug fixing and testing to get to a stable beta release for people to test. I'm not going to detail all of the new and improved features yet, but I'll give a sneak preview of some of what's coming here.

First up is something a lot of people have asked for, understandably so... in version 2 you will able to show, hide and reorder table columns. The table columns will also be context sensitive, so that when viewing recipe lists, you'll get all of the recipe columns, when viewing wine note lists, the columns will change to wine related columns, etc.


Next is the ability to move to previous and next items while editing an item. This will make it easier to navigate and "page" through a set of things. This was another popular request. People wanted to be able to quickly make a set of changes to a bunch of items. You'll also be able to use the keyboard to both move to the previous or next items, or to change the current tab in the editor, so less mousing, more editing, more productivity.


Version 2 will greatly expand the number of fields you can use to organize your recipes. The new cuisine, difficulty and course fields can be seen here, but they just a few of the new ones being added. People wanted all sorts of new ways to organize, and they are going to get them. More on that later.

Making the table columns more flexible and configurable required one of the biggest changes in version 2, seen in this shot. The "My Lists" table will be more like what you find in Apple's iApps, such as iTunes and iWeb. When MacGourmet was started, there was no indication of how iApps should do sublists, so they appeared on the right of the application. But that changed at some point, and MacGourmet is being updated so that it resembles what you're used to when using your applications from Apple. Note that your smart lists will also be able to appear within sublists.

Finally, this last sneak preview shows that yes, both much more flexible recipe scaling and U.S. Standard to Metric system conversions are coming. Some people didn't like being limited to fixed scaling amounts, so in version 2 you'll be able to specify the exact number of servings you want.

This is by no means an exhaustive list, there's a lot more coming that is not shown here, like faster .Mac publishing with all new templates, more printing options, the list could go on, but more on all of that in a later update, this is just a teaser...

I hope to roll some of the fixes for outstanding bugs in version 1 into a 1.2.1 release as well, if it's not too time consuming or difficult. I'm really head-down and intent on getting version 2 out the door, so most of my MacGourmet energies are being dedicated there.

Google just posted to one of their blogs about a bug that was found in most binary sorts, including Merge Sort. Now Merge Sort has been around FOREVER and any computer scientist worth their salt has used it in some capacity, even if it was in the ol' "implement these sorts and compare the performance of each..." assignment.

Apparently Google engineers found a bug in binary sorts, one that has lain dormant for nearly 50 years. Now a typical binary sort is about 17 lines. 17 lines that thousands upon thousands of engineers have used, looked at, written about, etc. and even now a bug can be found in those 17 lines. Crazy, but it explains the adage "there is always one more bug."

The Google post sums it up best this way:

"We programmers need all the help we can get, and we should never assume otherwise. Careful design is great. Testing is great. Formal methods are great. Code reviews are great. Static analysis is great. But none of these things alone are sufficient to eliminate bugs: They will always be with us. A bug can exist for half a century despite our best efforts to exterminate it. We must program carefully, defensively, and remain ever vigilant."

Read the entire post here.