User talk:Alice Purcell

Snapshot isolation (bias?)
Is it necessary to list some of the RDMS that implement Snapshot isolation? It's a horribly incomplete list, for example MS Sql Server implements it. Having an incomplete list looks like a bias to me. --Blowdart 18:23, 3 April 2006 (UTC)

That's just incomplete knowledge on my part. Please do add more. Taking it out may create the false impression that SI is only a theoretical tool, and not of practical use.

I took the list from Multiversion concurrency control, removing MySQL as I don't know whether the InnoDB engine implements only SI or is truly serializable. Should SQL Server be added there, too? --Chris Purcell 18:29, 3 April 2006 (UTC)

Oh heavens yes, SQL Server has had snapshot isolution since at least 6.5 :) This does bring the argument around listing software like this, as missing software out may give a false impression (?) --Blowdart 18:31, 3 April 2006 (UTC)


 * No, I don't think that's right. SQL Server had something that it called snapshot isolation in 6.5, but it wasn't actual snapshot isolation! To my knowledge it didn't get real snapshots until it got MCC in 2005. I don't recall the particulars, but ISTR that if you deleted a record from another transaction it would disappear inside the "snapshot." --Craig Stuntz 19:37, 3 April 2006 (UTC)

Ah yes, I see the list in Multiversion concurrency control. I've added Microsoft Sql Server to it, and the Snapshot isolation page. MS Sql Server did only get MCC in 2005 though. --Blowdart 18:36, 3 April 2006 (UTC)

Technically, Axion should be on the list, too. However, I don't see a WP page for it. I think "such as" should be an indication to the enterprising reader that a list does not aim for completeness ;) --Chris Purcell 18:40, 3 April 2006 (UTC)

I object to being labelled as not enterprising :p --Blowdart 18:43, 3 April 2006 (UTC)

Heheh :) Thanks for the peer review. Pretty fast, too! I'd barely had time to reload the page before you commented... --Chris Purcell 18:44, 3 April 2006 (UTC)

Wikiproject Computer science
Hi Chris, and welcome to WikiProject Computer science! Glad to have someone else with an interest in concurrency onboard (although my own interests lie more in the area of process algebras than lock-free data structures). --Allan McInnes (talk) 16:36, 4 April 2006 (UTC)

Integrated banner for WikiProject Computer science
I have made a proposal for a integrated banner for the project  here . I invite you for your valuable comments in the discussion. You are receiving this note as you are a member of the project. Thanks --  Tinu  Cherian  - 09:49, 3 August 2008 (UTC)

ArbCom elections are now open!
MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 13:01, 23 November 2015 (UTC)

Women in Red World Contest
Hi. We're into the last five days of the Women in Red World Contest. There's a new bonus prize of $200 worth of books of your choice to win for creating the most new women biographies between 0:00 on the 26th and 23:59 on 30th November. If you've been contributing to the contest, thank you for your support, we've produced over 2000 articles. If you haven't contributed yet, we would appreciate you taking the time to add entries to our articles achievements list by the end of the month. Thank you, and if participating, good luck with the finale!

Both Tonelli-Shanks and Cipolla's modular square root algorithms can handle powers of prime modula (not just primes)
I looked up Dickson's History of Numbers vol 1 p215(Tonelli) and p218(Cipolla) and Dickson clearly shows that both modular square root algorithms can handle powers of prime modula (whereas the Wiki articles say they can only do prime modula).

I've updated the TALK pages of both articles with the relevant Dickson math, along with numeric runthroughs with Mathematica code.

However, I am not a professional mathematician so I hesitate to update the articles.

Perhaps yourself, or someone else in the Computer science field could update the relevant articles with this information from Dickson.

The articles in question are:


 * Tonelli–Shanks algorithm


 * Cipolla's algorithm

Endo999 (talk) 20:18, 14 February 2018 (UTC)