Note: The code accompanying this article is available for download here.

We have all encountered decimal data errors at some time or another. The biggest difficulty they present is that, by the time they have been detected, no recovery is possible. Or to be more precise, no practical recovery is possible. In my previous tip, I mentioned that one of the benefits of data structure I/O is that you can avoid decimal data errors. In this tip I’m going to show you how and why that works.

The code package associated with this tip contains three test programs

Tree structures are a part of life, especially in the world of manufacturing, where I make my living, so we may as well learn to deal with them. Today I return to this topic, featuring another tool that you can use to tackle the traversal of trees.

In IBM 7.1, IBM added support for a tree-traversal syntax that Oracle invented ages ago. This syntax centers on two clauses of the select statement: START WITH and CONNECT BY.

I’ll illustrate with a few simple queries. First, we need a tree structure to play with. Here are some simple bills of materials.

“Due diligence” and “risk assessment” are phrases that should be running through your head anytime technology decisions are being made where new tooling or ideas are being put into production. The same is true when considering whether the Ruby language has a place in your shop. After all, it is a significant change in direction when introducing a new language to your technology stack.

What many people don’t know is the adoption of Ruby (and the Rails web framework) can be done in incremental fashion if that is what works best for you. What I mean by that is not