As a way to at least keep me writing, I am starting a links of the week category of post, that I expect to be a weekly staple. Links can cover just about any issue I find interesting, from technology to politics. So, let’s start.

• My favorite link of the week is Derek Colley’s  Compare Big Data Platforms vs.SQL Server.

  NoSQL is a big word these days, and although there are good reasons to pick a NoSQL platform, it obviously should be done only when that choice is actually the best possible choice for the situation at hand. Derek makes a good presentation of the reasons relational databases are still a great solution, when they fit the bill. Every so often a new type technology is hyped beyond reason and that is surely the case with NoSQL. Derek’s article brings some sense into the discussion and even points out some of the issues in NoSQL technologies that may have a negative impact in the future.

• Rob Farley’s Not-So-Dirty SQL Hacks presents a couple of interestings hacks for string concatenation in T-SQL.

• David Kuhsner’s The Geeks in the Front Lines is an interesting account of how hackers are in short supply and are being hired by the US government to shore up cyber defenses.

• John Rundle’s Responsive Navigation in Complex Websites addresses some of the process and techniques used to build a navigation structure and implement it in responsive websites.

• Finally, Henry Jones presents 9 jQuery Plugins for Improving Website Navigation.Most of them allow menus to be responsive, as well, which is all the better.

That’s all for this week. 

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