Tuesday, March 24, 2020

IDUG NA 2020 Conference Cancelled

I just received an e-mail notifying me that the 2020 IDUG Db2 Tech Conference scheduled for the week of June 7th in Dallas, TX has been canceled. This is the first time that IDUG has had to cancel a conference, but I have to congratulate the Conference Planning Committee and Board of Directors for making this difficult, but absolutely correct decision.

The email went on to say that IDUG is exploring all of its options for rescheduling the conference for a future date. And they assured all speakers that their sessions are still being held on the grid... so if you want to speak if and when the conference gets re-scheduled, you can!

The global COVID-19 pandemic has impacted all of our daily lives and for the Db2 community, this is just one more reminder of how pervasive this impact has been.

Let's all keep the faith and do our part (stay home, wash your hands) to shorten the duration of this global pandemic...

And Long Live Db2!!!

Tuesday, March 10, 2020

A Guide to Db2 Performance for Application Developers



DBAs: are you looking for a way to help train your developers to code more efficient Db2 application programs? 
Programmers: do you want to understand the best practices for writing high-performing Db2 applications?
Well, my latest book, A Guide to Db2 Performance for Application Developers, is just what you are looking for! Available in both printed and eBook formats, this is the book you need to assure that you are building effective, efficient Db2 applications.


This book will make you a better programmer by teaching you how to write efficient code to access Db2 databases. Whether you write applications on the mainframe or distributed systems, this book will teach you practices, methods, and techniques for optimizing your SQL and applications as you build them. Write efficient applications and become your DBA's favorite developer by learning the techniques outlined in this book!

The methods outlined in this book will help you improve the performance of your Db2 applications. The material is written for all Db2 professionals, whether you are coding on z/OS (the mainframe) or on Linux, Unix or Windows (distributed systems). When there are pertinent differences between the platforms it is explained in the text.

The focus of the book is on programming, coding and developing applications. As such, it does not focus on DBA, design, and data modeling issues, nor does it cover most Db2 utilities, DDL, and other non-programming related details. If you are a DBA, the book should still be of interest to you because DBAs are responsible for overall Db2 performance. Therefore, it makes sense to understand the programming aspect of performance.

It is important also to understand that the book is not about performance monitoring and tuning. Although these activities are important, they are typically not the domain of application developers. Instead, the book offers guidance on application development procedures, techniques, and philosophies. The goal of the book is to educate developers on how to write "good" application code that lends itself to optimal performance. By following the principles in this book you will be able to write code that does not require significant remedial, after-the-fact modifications by performance analysts. If you follow the guidelines in this book your DBAs and performance analysts will love you!

The assumption is made that the reader has some level of basic SQL knowledge and therefore it will not cover how to write Db2 SQL code or code a Db2 program. It is also important to point out that the book does not rehash material that is freely available in Db2 manuals that can be downloaded or read online.

What you will get from reading this book is a well-grounded basis for designing and developing efficient Db2 applications that perform well.

You can order your copy of A Guide to Db2 Performance for Application Developers today at: