Thanks for another SE Radio podcast. I use SE Radio for refreshing my knowledge about important IT subjects, like database technology, and for catching up with emerging trends like REST.

I really liked the episode about transactions, but I have to say that I believe episode 102 contains a number of errors, and excessive bias.

The SQL standard actually specifies sequences, triggers and stored procedures ("SQL/PSM"). And it has done so for quite a while. In other words, many features which the podcast describes as proprietary or non-standardized is actually described in ISO's SQL standard.

About primary keys:
The podcast is very much in favor of artificial keys, describing that approach as "modern". I believe that trustworthy coverage of the subject would require less biased statements. Have a look at this Joe Celko article for a different (and more sensible, in my opion) view on the subect: http://www.intelligententerprise.com/030320/605celko1_1.jhtml
Also: The podcast claims that it's very hard to change a primary key; it doesn't have to be: Within a database, the change can easily propagate if foreign keys are defined with a CASCADE referential action. If changes to such values need to be recorded, triggers can be used to maintain a change history.

Finally, I believe that the podcast under-states the explosion of complexity associated with clustering (and hence, the increased risk of long service disruptions when someone gets it wrong).

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Regards,
Troels Arvin