In a previous article I showed how to look at what query plans are in SQL Server's memory. In this article I'll look at how they got there and how and when they get reused. This is commonly called compiling a query plan. More specifically I'll look at how and when SQL Server can parameterize dynamic SQL   Read more...

New to SQL Server 2005 is the PIVOT operator, which gives you the ability to rotate row level data into tabular data without the use of the CASE statement, as was necessary in previous versions of SQL Server.  Read more...

SQL Server 2005 introducted the OUTPUT clause which we can use to capture values from the inserted and deleted virtual tables.  Read more...

Processing text or long strings usually reduces SQL to a prosaic procedural language. Learn a few techniques for facilitating speedy text processing in SQL.   Read more...