I would've thought a simple view would be OK for the previous example, and hard-code the "3" in it. This view can then be used everwhere, thus there should only be one hard-coded occurence of "3", (which is the minimum required - even constants hard-code the value in their definition!). Or am I missing something?

As for all other "constants", why can't you define it anywhere you like? They'll all require the hard-coding of something. A function for its name, (plus any parameters if you follow the article's suggestions), whilst tables need their name and any identifying column/value, (depending if it only has one row/multiple columns, or two columns/multiple rows).

Until SQL Server offers an actual "CONSTANT" keyword, then just use whatever's appropriate to your project, and stop moaning about everyone else's choices.

Paul H