Introduction. Why AI Readiness Starts in the Database You probably don’t need machine learning today. Most organizations don’t. You already have reporting dashboards, operational workflows, and business intelligence that work just fine without neural networks or predictive models. That’s not a failure. It’s normal. The problem doesn’t show up immediately. It shows up a few […]
2026-02-27
1,989 reads
When we design a database or system, we often do so with corner cases in mind. We don't have to do this.
2025-12-01
112 reads
Do you take the time to model and design your database? Steve thinks this is important, even while trying to make changes quicker to adapt to changing requirements.
2025-11-14
96 reads
Steve has a few thoughts on the names we choose for tables, columns, files, and more.
2025-11-07
140 reads
Your choice of how you encode data can be significant. With computers and databases, you have a wide range of options. As a programmer, you will likely be called upon at some time in your career to design and coding scheme for particular application. It would really help if you at least avoided designing a bad one.
2025-06-30
A SQL DDL statement that Steve never knew about is the subject of today's editorial.
2025-04-04
127 reads
If you’re going to work with databases, you probably ought to know something about data. In particular, we don’t put data directly into a database; we have to encode it and represent it in a format which a machine can handle.
2025-04-02
Steve has a few thoughts on natural keys, which often turn out not to be as unique as we expect.
2025-03-03
165 reads
Companies of all sizes and across industries are struggling to cope with an explosion of data never before seen in the short history of computing. As applications reach new levels of sophistication and become deeply interconnected, these companies find themselves increasingly overworked, overheated, and at their wits’ end, desperately trying to squeeze just a bit more performance and availability out of their aging database architectures.
2024-10-11
If you’ve ever had a traditional logic course, you’ll have run into “The Law of Identity” as the founding principle of all Western thought. It says that: “To be is to be something in particular; to be nothing in particular or anything in general, is to be nothing at all.”
2024-10-07
By HeyMo0sh
As someone who works in DevOps, I’m always focused on creating systems that are...
By Brian Kelley
I am guilty as charged. The quote was in reference to how people argue...
By Steve Jones
Learn how to tie a bowline knot. Practice in the dark. With one hand....
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I have a database, DNRTest, that has a number of tables and other objects in it. The other day, I was trying to mock up a test and ran this code on the same server:
-- run yesterday CREATE DATABASE DNRTest2 GO USE DNRTest2 GO CREATE TABLE NewTable (id INT) GOToday, I realize that I need a copy of DNRTest for another mockup, and I run this:
-- run today USE Master BACKUP DATABASE DNRTest TO DISK = 'dnrtest.bak' GO RESTORE DATABASE DNRTest2 FROM DISK = 'dnrtest.bak' WITH REPLACEWhat happens? See possible answers