Anthony DeBarros

Given that median is such a valuable statistical measure, it’s baffling that Microsoft’s SQL Server and other relational databases (MySQL, PostgreSQL) don’t have a built-in MEDIAN function. Well, this week, after working through a data set in SQL Server — and deciding I didn’t want to push the data into SPSS to find medians — I hit the web to find a T-SQL workaround.

I found a ton of solutions (some from people with no clue about the difference between median and average), but the one below — adapted from a post by Adam Machanic at sqlblog.com — was the best. It produces accurate results and is fairly speedy to boot.

Here’s an example. Consider this table with student grades from two courses:
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We’d like to find the median grade in each class. Here’s the script:
(more…)

Filed under: Programming, SQL by Anthony on Jul 25, 2010
2 Comments »

I make no claim to having any design sense, but if you like my site’s WordPress theme, you’re welcome to it. Grab it right here.

Portfolio AD is a one-column theme with a two-column sidebar. Both columns in the sidebar can display widgets. The header is a modification of the well-worn Hemingway theme, and the rest is my take-off of a site built via this tutorial from WPDesigner.com. It works fine with WordPress 3.0.

What you see here is the result of constant tinkering. I coded up a theme of my own to learn more about what WordPress can do, and in the process I have learned tons about CSS, HTML, web hosting and content management systems in general. If you have the time, it’s well worth the investment.

Use the theme as a starting point for your own tinkering and have fun!

Filed under: WordPress by Anthony on Jun 19, 2010
1 Comment »

The late Jerry McBride, founder of the Marist College information systems program and mentor to many of us in it, gave our capstone class a bit of advice that I’ve always remembered:

“Never stop learning.”

Plenty of people, regardless of industry, argue otherwise. Play it safe, take few risks and stay with the tried and true — that keeps the bills paid and the lights on.

Decades ago, “No one ever got fired for buying IBM” was a phrase you could bank on. IBM had it all — the kings of the air-conditioned mainframe, making oodles of money, and very snug in their white-shirt-and-tie ways. But they were slow to learn. PCs came along, the mainframe business withered, OS/2 failed to unseat Windows, and tens of thousands of people in IBM-hometowns found themselves unemployed. IBM’s come back, but it’s nothing like the company it was in 1980.

Stop learning, rest on the existing models, and it’s easy to become a mainframe-hawker in a PC revolution. Or a railroad tycoon watching with disregard as Henry Ford mass produces Model T’s.

I’ve practiced Jerry McBride’s advice better at times than others. Lately, very much so. I’m on a learning jag. My latest quest is Ubuntu, Apache, PostgreSQL and Django. Last night, this little screen brought a smile or two:

P.S. My bookmarks and RSS feeds prove one thing: There’s no excuse for not learning; the Internet is the best free library you’ll ever find.

Filed under: Life, Programming by Anthony on Apr 2, 2010
1 Comment »