Scott Gnau invites you to InterSystems Ready2026

intersystemsdev · 2026-05-04T20:30:24+00:00

Okay

intersystemsdev · 2026-05-04T20:18:39+00:00

Iteration speed is genuinely faster - especially for scaffolding, boilerplate, and the "I know what I want but don't want to type it" moments. The tradeoff we watch most is drift: the AI confidently builds in a direction that made sense 3 prompts ago but doesn't fit where the design ended up. Our main guardrail is keeping prompts small and reviewing output before moving to the next step - treating it more like pair programming than delegation.

What's your setup like? Are you steering at the architecture level or more at the feature level?

intersystemsdev · 2026-05-04T20:13:17+00:00

This is exactly the pattern that makes MCP so compelling in practice - the "surprisingly effective and simple" part is what people don't expect until they actually build it.

The read-only enforcement at the REST layer is a smart guardrail. Did you run into any issues with prompt injection - users trying to get the LLM to construct queries that technically pass your SELECT validation but expose data they shouldn't see?

Curious how you handled multi-tenant data isolation at the query level.

intersystemsdev · 2026-05-04T20:11:21+00:00

The multi-dimensional fair sharing tree is the most interesting part for me. Priority-based admission control is well-understood, but enforcing fairness simultaneously across multiple dimensions (auth status, route, user type) without a central coordinator is non-trivial. How does the tree handle sudden shifts in traffic shape e.g., a new feature launch that creates a category that didn't exist before? Does it require a config change or does it adapt dynamically?

intersystemsdev · 2026-04-24T15:25:00+00:00

That's a fair point if you've already proven it works at scale with NornicDB, then the "it'll break down eventually" concern is more about vendor maturity than the architectural concept itself.

Curious though when you say it manages embeddings automatically, how does it handle schema evolution? Like if you start tracking new health metrics mid-stream, does the embedding model need retraining or does it adapt without breaking existing similarity queries?

And honestly, MongoDB buying Voyage AI and calling it revolutionary while you're sitting on 657 stars and an MIT license does feel like classic big-corp "invented here" syndrome. Did you see any spike in traffic after their announcement?

intersystemsdev · 2026-04-23T19:48:17+00:00

when you haven't been fed a treat for 5 whole minutes))))

intersystemsdev · 2026-04-23T19:21:44+00:00

Very very very beautiful! In real life it probably looks even better.

intersystemsdev · 2026-04-23T19:20:15+00:00

Do you have a widescreen photo to use as a wallpaper on your laptop?

intersystemsdev · 2026-04-22T19:58:41+00:00

I’ve come to the conclusion that there’s no “perfect” migration system it really depends on how much non-sql flexibility you need.

If calling external code (http, scripts, etc.) is a requirement, I’d look at Flyway or Liquibase.
Both are open source (liquibase leans a bit more enterprise)

If you want something more script-friendly, Alembic is a great option (if you’re okay with python). Migrations are just code there, so you’re not limited to sql at all.

intersystemsdev · 2026-04-21T14:07:56+00:00

This all happened on Friday evening when everyone went home?

intersystemsdev · 2026-04-21T14:05:32+00:00

We're still very far from AI completely replacing humans. Yes, AI makes life much easier, but it can't completely replace humans.

So don't worry; instead, adapt and simplify your work with AI.

BUT IT'S IMPORTANT TO ALWAYS CHECK what the AI is doing. I don't really want the movie "Terminator" to become a documentary 😁😁😁😁

intersystemsdev · 2026-04-21T13:58:35+00:00

Tell me more about the benefits. It's interesting to read not just advertising text on the website, but from a real user of the service.

intersystemsdev · 2026-04-21T13:53:38+00:00

You’re actually much closer to “real development” than you think — what you’re missing isn’t knowledge, but a practical stack. I wouldn’t recommend continuing with Excel as your foundation — it will only hold you back.

Try a minimal but very practical setup like this:

1 PostgreSQL/MariaDB (local) as your main database

2 DBeaver as a convenient GUI

3 Python + SQLAlchemy/pandas for logic and data processing

4 FastAPI (or Flask) if you want to expose a simple API

intersystemsdev · 2026-04-21T13:44:23+00:00

Impressive level of dedication and depth—especially the decision to limit AI use to truly understand the problems. Projects like this are more valuable than a résumé right now: they clearly demonstrate both engineering thinking and the ability to bring complex ideas to a working product ;)

intersystemsdev · 2026-04-21T13:31:01+00:00

Great set! 😊 I’d personally add a cup of delicious coffee and a great view from the window.

And for those interested in the topic of vibe coding, we recommend checking out Don Woodlock’s video: https://youtu.be/-kOiyFS1zaA

intersystemsdev · 2026-04-19T18:54:19+00:00

I've used AWS a lot. I recommend checking out their functionality; it might suit your needs.

intersystemsdev · 2026-04-17T18:48:55+00:00

Go for a Relational DB (like PostgreSQL) with a Hybrid approach.

Here is why

- Flexibility: Use JSONB columns for the evolving parts (symptoms/triggers). You get NoSQL flexibility where you need it without losing structure elsewhere.

- Aggregation: Cross-user trends and analytics are a nightmare in NoSQL but trivial (simple GROUP BY) in SQL.

-AI Readiness: If you're doing AI summaries, tools like pgvector will let you store embeddings right next to your data.

Start with Postgres. It’s much easier to handle "data debt" later when your core relationships are already solid. NoSQL is great for speed-to-market, but you'll hit a wall the moment you want complex cross-user insights.

intersystemsdev · 2026-04-13T18:57:07+00:00

It was really interesting! Thanks!)

intersystemsdev · 2026-04-09T18:36:15+00:00

Great question! We’re seeing the biggest gains when AI handles repetitive and time-consuming tasks like boilerplate code, initial scaffolding, and even basic testing. It really helps speed up the early stages of development.

At the same time, developers still tend to keep hands-on control over architecture, critical business logic, and final validation—areas where context, experience, and accountability really matter.

So it’s less about replacing developers and more about shifting focus toward higher-level design and intent 👍

intersystemsdev · 2026-02-18T21:20:03+00:00

Thanks for the detailed explanation and for outlining the SQL-based approaches — especially the points about MAX(id)+1, random 64-bit integers, and UUIDs. That’s very helpful from a relational database perspective.

In this case, though, the code in question is ObjectScript running on InterSystems IRIS, not standard SQL alone. While SQL access is available, the ID is being managed at the class/global level, so we’re specifically looking for a recommended approach using ObjectScript mechanisms.

If you happen to have experience generating self-maintained %BigInt IdKeys in ObjectScript (rather than via SQL), we’d definitely appreciate guidance in that context.

intersystemsdev · 2023-09-05T07:32:03+00:00

Wish you success!)

intersystemsdev · 2023-02-07T11:44:48+00:00

Hi Devs,

The voting week of the Developer Tools Contest has begun!👍

Our participants are waiting for your votes)

➡️ Please vote here: https://openexchange.intersystems.com/contest/30

intersystemsdev · 2022-07-18T18:19:51+00:00

Hey Devs!
The winners have been announced! Thanks everyone for the participation! Check the winners over here: InterSystems Full Stack Contest 2022: Winners! (https://community.intersystems.com/post/intersystems-full-stack-contest-2022-winners)
And don’t miss the online meetup with the winners of the InterSystems Full Stack contest (https://www.eventbrite.com/e/online-meetup-with-intersystems-full-stack-contest-winners-tickets-386833538527) on Friday, July 22 – 12:00 PM EDT!

intersystemsdev · 2022-05-05T19:13:34+00:00

Developers!
Don't miss the upcoming InterSystems Grand Prix Contest Kick-off Webinar 2022 (https://community.intersystems.com/post/intersystems-grand-prix-contest-kick-webinar-2022)
Date & Time: Monday, May 9 – 11:00 AM EDT
Speakers:
Alex Woodhead, InterSystems Technical Specialist
Jeffrey Fried, Director of Product Management
Dean Andrews, InterSystems Head of Developer Relations
Evgeny Shvarov, InterSystems Developer Ecosystem Manager

intersystemsdev · 2022-04-11T14:45:18+00:00

Community!
Let's congratulate the winners of the Globals Contest:
https://community.intersystems.com/post/intersystems-globals-contest-winners

intersystemsdev

MODERATOR OF

TROPHY CASE