March 2005

NexusDB V2 Memory Manager and RDBMS – Geoff Harris

NexusDB is a high speed DBMS engine for Delphi, C Builder and .Net applications. Version 1 has been a successful heir to the popular FlashFiler engine from the now defunct TurboPower Software company. A significant part of the success and speed of NexusDB can be attributed to its well known memory manager. In this talk we explore both the Nexus Memory Manager and Version 2 of NexusDB. Aspects of the Memory Manager that make it the technical best of its kind on the market are explained in this presentation. Examples showing its speed and lean use of memory will be demonstrated highlighting just how easy it is to use. The talk will then lead on to an in-depth discussion of Version 2 of the RDBMS, NexusDB. The various new features of NexusDB will be explained, with examples, as well as a look into how to utilize it potential to the fullest. Version 2 also represents a move by Nexus into the .NET world. Future editions of NexusDB, namely the Enterprise Edition, will also be showcased.

Automated Solution Generation Algorithms for Scheduling – Geoff Harris

The generalized scheduling problem is a well known real-world work issue which confronts all levels of industry and government on a day to day basis. Specific examples of such problems include time tabling, rostering, job-shop scheduling and the well known travelling salesman problem. The provision of the automated generation of solutions to these problems has interested business analysts and academics alike for many decades. Research into this area has resulted in a huge number of publications discussing proposed algorithms, implementations and systems. In this talk is presented a summary of the more well-researched algorithms and some recent research results. The results present allow a more deeper understanding of the various techniques including insights into regions of the solution phase space they are more better suited to.
An good introduction on Constraint Satisfaction Programming is available here.