bitbucket-25253 (1/29/2013)
davoscollective
A lot of people are complaining about not having SQL Server 2012 or Adventureworks on production machines. I have a test/dev VM with SQL Server 2012 SP1 and both the Adventureworks2012 and AdventureworksDW2012 databases. I would have thought this would be something SQL Server professionals should all do so that you can start to become familiar with the new functionality prior to any potential upgrade of your systems, or even just to keep your skills up to date. If not then this question might be useful in that it serves as a prompt to do that. If you can't install stuff at work and you don't want to do it on your off time, then why not get a free cloud trial with Azure or something else so you can try it out. I'm pretty sure I've read Steve Jones suggesting exactly that a few times.
Bolding added by this poster.
+1
I too think that every serious SQL Server professional (hmmm, that should a tautology) should have access to a sandbox SQL Server instance in an isolated environment, where (s)he can try out stuff without having to fear breaking any important things. And while it's not required to have AdventureWorks there, it definitely can be convenient.
For me, that sandbox instance lives on my own laptop. Developer edition - costs only 50 bucks; I luckily don't have to pay, but otherwise I definitely would pay for it out of my own pocket without giving it as much as a second thought. Or, if I really had a hard time coughing up that amount, I would switch to Express Edition.
But I still don't like the question at all. You could just as well have written: "download and install an evaluation edition of SQL Server 2012 if you don't have one yet, then download and install AdventureWorks 2012, then run the code below - what is the result". That would have been the exact same learning experience.
As I (and others) have said before: if you want people to learn about the CHOOSE operator, give them a question that they can try to work out in their head. That will test them much more, and that will teach them much more.
I am surprised to see that you responded to one post, but didn't respond in any way to the criticism from other posts. With that, you create the appearance of not caring about the criticism. You don't have to agree with me (a lot of people don't agree with me - ask my wife and children if you don't believe me, they disagree with me all the time! ;)), but I would hope that you at least acknowledge that you heard us, and tell us how you think about it.