David Korb (8/1/2009)
...because you may end up maintaining CLR routines on SQL Server.
Heh... just having a little fun here... if you know T-SQL well enough, there isn't a need for CLR routines except maybe for a nice little Regex CLR and then you could get a specialist to create one for you. Once written, it needs no maintenance. 😉
And, what if you had landed in the Teradata world? (I just did.) I'm only getting started with it, but it looks like you can't even create a user-defined function without compiling a little C.
That's a bit like asking what if an MD suddenly had to become a Vet (which is just a difficult as being an MD, by the way). If that happened and like anyone else in that situation, I'd certainly take the time to ramp up in C and very quickly. Fortunately, Teradata isn't the only show in town.
Just like a heart specialist, there's nothing wrong with specializing in the world of databases. In fact, there's nothing wrong in specializing in just one. Some will argue with that but consider this... as smart as they are, I probably wouldn't let a human heart specialist maintain the heart of my favorite race horse or vice versa.
--Jeff Moden
Change is inevitable... Change for the better is not.