One common request often seen in T-SQL is working with queues of information. In this piece, J. Drew Allen will show to use windowing functions and the OVER clause to process a FIFO queue.  Read more...

Data types are an important part of how tables and variables work. Did you know that constants have databases too?  Read more...

This article shows four ways you can use when installing missing R packages for Microsoft R Services.  Read more...

Although it is common to group by periods such as Week, Month, or Quarter, sometimes alternative periods are needed. This simple technique lets you split a year into periods with any number of days.  Read more...

This article shows different options to use the rounding functions in SQL Server.  Read more...

This second part to a previous article on Calendar table generation shows how to create a holiday table containing both fixed-date and variable-date holidays.  Read more...

We've all heard that definitive statement: "Avoid using cursors." But, in my opinion, what really should be conveyed is: "Avoid using row-by-row operations when possible."  Read more...

Learn how to approach performance tuning in this piece from SQL Server MCM and MVP, Gail Shaw.  Read more...

This article talks about using the the positive aspects of setting up R in enterprise environment and give instructions on first steps how to do it.  Read more...

Setting ANSI_WARNINGS OFF to avoid NULL value elimination warnings can have an impact on the data quality and system behaviour.  Read more...

A second part to the series by Mickey Stuewe on writing better T-SQL looks at some of the issues of using views in a complex query.  Read more...

Tim Smith shows how you can use PowerShell to automate a simple comparison of objects such as stored procedures, views, and fucntions.  Read more...

One of the best ways in which you can build better applications is by learning to write better T-SQL. Mickey Stuewe begins a new series showing how you might start to think about writing queries.  Read more...

There times when you need to write T-SQL code that creates specific T-SQL Code and executes it. When you do this you are creating dynamic T-SQL code. When writing dynamic T-SQL you need to understand how dynamic code opens the possibilities for a SQL injection attack.  Read more...

This level discusses how to use a database VIEW to simplify your Transact-SQL(T-SQL) code. By understanding how to use a VIEW you will be able to better support writing T-SQL code to meet complex business requirements. In this article I will be discussing what a database VIEW is and then providing a number of examples to help you understand how you can use a VIEW to implement different coding scenarios.  Read more...

The COUNT function is among the most used functions in the T-SQL codes. Even though COUNT is easy to use, it should be used carefully because it could often not return the desired result. For the big tables, the counting of the rows could cause blocking as well as take some more time.  Read more...

This article will discuss geo-replication for an Azure SQL Database (PaaS) and the steps required for setup via the Azure portal and TSQL.  Read more...

An article about tally tables, N-Grams and the fastest character-level N-Grams function available today for SQL Server.  Read more...

Using the APPLY operator to reduce repetition and make queries DRYer.  Read more...

Alan Burstein discusses a better performning alternative to PERCENT_RANK that works on SQL Server versions 2005+  Read more...