Writing

SQLServerCentral is supported by Red Gate Software Ltd.

Home Articles Editorials Forums Scripts Videos Blogs QotD Books Ask SSC SQL Jobs Training Authors About us Contact us Newsletters Advertise Write for us

Popular Topics

Home

Members

Calendar

Who's On

Home » SQLServerCentral.com » Editorials » Writing

80 posts, Page 5 of 8

«««3 4 5 6 7 »»»

Writing

Rate Topic

Display Mode

Topic Options

Author

Message

jburkman

Posted Friday, May 09, 2008 8:33 AM

SSC Rookie

Group: General Forum Members
Last Login: Wednesday, March 04, 2009 4:35 PM
Points: 38, Visits: 218

Derek Karpinski (5/9/2008)

Don't implode. Just far too messy.. And I'm out of shovels and bin liners Smile

Eeek. Consider the remains....

Trying to write a poem using only T-SQL keywords. Might have got as far as KILL USER.... Sometimes it's good to be constrained...

DENY SOME USER
IDENTITY IS SHUTDOWN
PRIMARY ESCAPE

mea culpa, mea culpa for the derailing

Post #497936

Steve Jones - Editor

Posted Friday, May 09, 2008 8:38 AM

SSChampion

Group: Administrators
Last Login: 2 days ago @ 4:33 PM
Points: 21,728, Visits: 5,982

Some very interesting comments and thanks for sharing.

Those of you with no time, I completely understand and definitely enjoy the rest of your life first. Writing about SQL, especially when you have a job in IT, is a lot to do.

Those that don't feel confident, I'll share something I've seen in my 10 years of writing. If there's a problem that I solved, no matter hot insignificant, chances are that there are 100 or 1000 people with less experience that have or are struggling with it. Something as simple as moving tempdb to a new drive. It's a simple KB article from MS, but not everyone would find it. Or understand it. I wrote an article on it and people might have seen it here, thought it was easier (or harder) to understand than MS' version, and maybe if stuck in their head.

The Internet can definitely make everyone a publisher. And that's very powerful. It can allow you your own voice.

I'd definitely suggest everyone get a technical blog and put down short entries about things you've solved. It's a great way to add to your resume and show that you are knowledgeable. Or show that you're learning. Keep it to technical posts, no posts about your dog, cat, or anything non-technical. We're redoing blogs here and we'd host it or grab a few blogger account if you want. Be sure you set at least a reminder every couple weeks to put something down.

If you find you have time, and you want to take a chance, send me something. You can email or go into the "My Account" in the upper left and submit something. I'll edit it, give you feedback, and help you get an article published and your name on the front page. I still get a kick out of it and I'm sure you will as well.

Post #497942

Derek Karpinski

Posted Friday, May 09, 2008 8:55 AM

Mr or Mrs. 500

Group: General Forum Members
Last Login: Thursday, August 21, 2008 4:52 AM
Points: 598, Visits: 161

Thanks Steve

Might have to write something - despite feeling inadequate and in gentle awe of people like Jeff Moden and Phil Factor...among others...- there are of course things I could share that may help one or two people out of holes carefully constructed by their peers.... Let me think - something may arise.Or not... Still use cursors (when appropriate..) NOLOCKs at most opportunities...
Might have to have a soft rant about commenting code.... Because I have to support what I write, and often forget (being a bear of very little brain) why I did it in the first place
Favourite code comment I've encountered (at another place)

// don't know why this works, it just does

Post #497960

Matt Miller (#4)

Posted Friday, May 09, 2008 9:00 AM

SSCertifiable

Group: General Forum Members
Last Login: Yesterday @ 3:12 PM
Points: 5,987, Visits: 7,927

jburkman (5/9/2008)

Funny timing, this. I was tempted this week to write a bit explaining the COLUMNS-UPDATED because BOL bites on that topic. But it filtered down to not knowing how to submit an article (vs a post), figuring nobody cares, reading negative thoughts on that method by well-respected authorities here...

So I'll go with self-esteem, and not wanting to diminish the quality of the material here.

But oh man if I don't blog forth on the mental anguish of working in an environment where "data-centric" is heresy...I'm going to implode :P

Well - just so you don't have the excuse anymore....Articles look to be submitted from the "Contribution Center". click on the My Account link at the top of most pages, then access the Contribution Center. Same as useful code, same as QOTD's.

I haven't had a lot of time so far, but I will confess to a total lack of confidence as to finding something worthy to talk about (i.e. something not yet beaten into the ground by many others, much more competent than I), and more importantly, having something worthy to contribute to the worthy topic. Besides - the "what I plan on doing over the summer vacation" has so been done, so I'm scouring for new material....So - I've given myself a goal to get something out there in a reasonable timeframe.

I'm starting easy right now (with a few QOTD's), and I think I just might have stumbled onto something interesting, so hopefully I can develop it into something useful.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Your lack of planning does not constitute an emergency on my part...unless you're my manager...or a director and above...or a really loud-spoken end-user..All right - what was my emergency again?

Post #497965

Lynn Pettis

Posted Friday, May 09, 2008 9:04 AM

SSCrazy Eights

Group: General Forum Members
Last Login: Yesterday @ 10:02 PM
Points: 9,728, Visits: 9,575

Ted Pin (5/9/2008)

@Lynn, but you are already a prolific writer, as evidenced by your contribution to this forum! :D

Yes and no. Yes I have written a lot on this forum, but I haven't written the things I'd like to. I would like to write an article or two for SSC, I' also alike to write a reference book based on a lack of information in BOL and other books regarding SSIS, I have thoughts about a fiction story...

I'll admit, Jeff Moden has forced me in a post or two to explain things to others that I learned from his posts and articles he has written. I just keep finding excuses (or letting life get in the way... I love reffing youth soccer games!).

Hopefully someday will be soon!

Cool

Lynn Pettis

For better assistance in answering your questions, click here
For tips to get better help with Performance Problems, click here
For Running Totals and its variations, click here or when working with partitioned tables
For more about Tally Tables, click here
For more about Cross Tabs and Pivots, click here and here
Managing Transaction Logs

SQL Musings from the Desert Fountain Valley SQL (My Mirror Blog)

Post #497970

jcrawf02

Posted Friday, May 09, 2008 9:04 AM

SSC Eights!

Group: General Forum Members
Last Login: 2 days ago @ 1:10 PM
Points: 811, Visits: 2,149

Derek Karpinski (5/9/2008)

Favourite code comment I've encountered (at another place)

// don't know why this works, it just does

lol I've been guilty of something like that. "--I don't know why this is giving me the top 10 diagnosis codes (what I was actually looking for) 32 times, but I'm just using Top 10 to return 10 rows, not 320"

---------------------------------------------------------

For Best Practices on posting questions that get answered quickly, see http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/Best+Practices/61537/
and
http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/SQLServerCentral/66909/

Post #497971

Dcarlson

Posted Friday, May 09, 2008 9:07 AM

Old Hand

Group: General Forum Members
Last Login: Monday, October 26, 2009 3:36 PM
Points: 310, Visits: 224

Jack Corbett (5/9/2008)

For me, finding something to write about is the hardest thing. Most of what I do [is] fairly routine and anything really good I learned from something somebody else wrote.

As many have so eloquently stated, I too hated english in school. To be honest, I hated school. I took a beginning Visual Basic class years ago at the local community college and the "professor" said, "The only data types you need to know about are integer and string. You won't ever use the others." I asked the question, "How do you use numbers that require decimals." He didn't know the answer! I didn't go back!

Yes, Jack, it is difficult to find something of substance that hasn't already been addressed. It seems that the more I learn, the less I think I actually know! Time is also a hindrance. Between personnel, software, ongoing learning, and family, it seems there is so little time left to spend to organize your thoughts into a coherent essay. My thoughts come in spurts and I never seem to be able to compile all of the disparate musings into topics of related content.

I do want to express my gratitude to all of you, starting, of course, with Steve. SSC is a great resource for me. It is here that I can expand my knowledge, be comforted in knowing that I am not the only one dealing with '[fill in the blank]' , and be encouraged RBAR is 'verbotten'. So to all of you, Thanks!

Dan

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
"No question is so difficult to answer as that to which the answer is obvious." - George Bernard Shaw

Post #497973

Steve Jones - Editor

Posted Friday, May 09, 2008 9:12 AM

SSChampion

Group: Administrators
Last Login: 2 days ago @ 4:33 PM
Points: 21,728, Visits: 5,982

You are welcome and let me tell you that I learn from many of you still. I appreciate you coming, more than just because it pays the bills. I enjoy being here as well.

If some of you aren't sure (Matt, ahem, cough cough) if you have something worth saying, feel free to send me a note to that effect. Send an email or put a para at the top of the article. I'll give you good feedback about what I think. I don't want you to regret publishing here and I push back quite often on articles to make them better.

We don't try to make it as hard as writing a book, and we want you to have your own voice, style, etc., but we also try to be sure that it's something you're proud of and won't get too many complaints over.

Post #497980

sing4you

Posted Friday, May 09, 2008 9:28 AM

SSC-Enthusiastic

Group: General Forum Members
Last Login: Thursday, October 29, 2009 7:09 AM
Points: 177, Visits: 533

I, too, hated to write in high school. It took a hard-nosed college professor to teach me how to write and to get me to enjoy it. I will always be grateful to him.

I don't write much here, either, due to confidence or the lack thereof. I'm a developer and a halfway decent stored procedure writer, but I'm no DBA.

There are two things I like to write. I'm a musician, so I write songs. I don't write enough of them because I don't have time, but it really pleases me when I come up with something I like.

The other thing I like to write is user documentation. I believe that a product is only as good as its instructions. If the customer cannot figure out how to work the application, DVR, mixing board, or whatever, the thing is useless. I have a secret desire to rewrite all the instructions in the world because they are all so bad! w00t

(OK, that's a little over the top.)

Anyway, I get a buzz from writing good and clear instructions for how to use an application. I write them so a monkey can follow them. More advanced people can skip what they don't need. No one has ever complained because instructions were too detailed.

I also have a blog, but only about 2 people read it ;)

Post #498002

Chance Folmar

Posted Friday, May 09, 2008 9:41 AM

Forum Newbie

Group: General Forum Members
Last Login: Monday, October 26, 2009 5:52 AM
Points: 9, Visits: 39

Karl Heinz Brehme (5/8/2008)

I like to write, but I don´t write here because I don´t have free time... I work all the time that I´m not sleeping... Lot of projects and small budget, so I can´t contract anybody to help... I don´t have time to train new ones, lol.

One word: Ditto!

Post #498018

« Prev Topic | Next Topic »

80 posts, Page 5 of 8

«««3 4 5 6 7 »»»

Permissions