IN SQL Server 2000, we didn’t have the fancy-schmancy Management Studio…we had Enterprise Manager and Query Analyzer, and we liked em, by gum.  You know, give or take.

I am very fond of SSMS, but there’s one small thing I miss about QA and the olden days: You could open… Read more

On Saturday I (unexpectedly) presented at Dallas’ first Business Intelligence-focused SQL Saturday at the Microsoft campus in  Irving. I wasn’t on the planning committee for this one, but I had the inside scoop: This event was only NTSSUG’s second, and came just six months after our inaugural SQL Saturday. It… Read more

SQL Saturday #56, Dallas BI edition, is tomorrow. Last night before the NTSSUG meeting, we had an unusually high number of SQLSat speakers unexpectedly drop out. The other UG board members and event planners are already up to their eyeballs in sessions (Sean’s giving three tomorrow!), so I was… Read more

Last week I wrote Ground Zero Database Design, thinking that was a good enough bare-bones intro (with recommended reading!) that I could leave the subject alone for a while. Then I went looking through my blog ideas folder, and found this:

DB design note:A column must mean what it…

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This shirt was specifically requested by an online friend who shall remain nameless (his name rhymes with “Duck Hoodie”).  Another online friend (name rhymes with “Penny Sherry”) recommended we get a bunch of those shirts from a local printer for tons cheaper. So I did.

14 are spoken for…10 remain.… Read more

If you want to get into the Inappropriate PASS Sessions event during the PASS Summit in Seattle this year, you’d better RSVP QUICK. 

This all began with a tweet (see Kendra Little’s blog on the origins, and for a list of topic ideas). I love how furiously fast… Read more

I’m sorry, but the Inappropriate PASS Sessions event (an after-hours event during the PASS Summit in Seattle) is SOLD OUT. 

This all began with a tweet (see Kendra Little’s blog on the origins, and for a list of topic ideas). I love how furiously fast this thing spread:… Read more

We’ve discussed thinking about 53x (Women: whenever it comes up; Men: ~23 hours each day), 53xual tension, dressing 53xy, 53xual harassment, and relationships in the workplace. We’ve kinda talked all the 53x we can without oversharing, I suspect.  But it… Read more

All the SQL world should take database modeling classes, and thrive in the light of well-designed data structures. Back in the real world, though, an awful lot of folk who model DBs  – or just add new database objects – miss, forget, or ignore basic normalization principles. For your consideration,… Read more

We’re conducting S–3–X Talk Week here at the MidnightDBA #Awesomesauce blog. In the tradition of the first S-3-X week blog, we will continue using the clever analog for the “S” word – 53x – and we’ll keep things on the up-and-up.

We spoke before about keeping 53x out of… Read more

We’re conducting S–E–X Talk Week here at the MidnightDBA #Awesomesauce blog, in honor of everyone’s favorite subject. In deference to the fact that this is (against all odds) a professional blog, and SOME companies aren’t fond of “that” kind of talk wending its way through the office intertubes, we will… Read more

You’ve seen the blog, you’ve downloaded the code…you even watched the 24HOP session recording…now own the Forgotten T-SQL Cheat Sheet!

Yessir, this handy-dandy reference sheet includes the Logical Processing Order of SELECT, shorthand for recursive CTEs and MERGE, the famous list-of-details XML trick, and more! And… Read more

Last month we talked about the old and busted syscomments- and the new hotness that is sys.sql_modules – for pulling code out of your database using T-SQL.  I’m finally transitioning over to sql_modules for good, even though I’d been a slow adopter.  This month, though, I’m already in SQLlove… Read more

I was talking to the older kids about homework yesterday, and I mentioned that starting this week, I have extra homework, too…I’m studying for my next certification. Now, I’ve been a bit lax on certifications since SQL 2000 (hey, I’ve been busy, okay?)… Read more

Yesterday, my SQLServerCentral.com editorial Why are we still talking about Women in Tech? was published, and we had a fine time all the day discussing the ins and outs of the question on the forum.  One reader wrote me to express admiration of the article, but indifference to the… Read more

Here’s a quick summary of OVER and PARTITION BY (new in SQL 2005), for the uninitiated or forgetful…

OVER

OVER allows you to get aggregate information without using a GROUP BY. In other words, you can retrieve detail rows, and get aggregate data alongside it. For example, this query:

SELECT… Read more