Articles

External Article

Missing Data

In the real world of business or scientific reporting and analysis, data can prove to be awkward. It can be plain wrong or it can be altogether missing. Sure, we have the NULL to signify unknown, but that doesn't play well with regular business reporting. There are a number of ways of dealing with missing information, and methods of estimating data from existing data has a long and respectable history. Joe Celko gets to grips with a data topic that is often treated with some trepidation.

2017-11-13

4,133 reads

External Article

Mixing MongoDB and Relational Databases in the Enterprise

Your Agile developers want MongoDB, or a similar document database: your Ops people are concerned about security and backup, and Governance are muttering about transactionality and data transfer between systems. Do you restrict your developers from rapidly-evolving the data design for their domain or do you embrace the joys of NoSQL unconditionally? If you accept a polyglot database environment, where the NoSQL lambs coexist with the relational lions, how do you provide tools and common database concepts that everyone can use and understand?

2017-11-10

3,389 reads

External Article

SQL Server R Services: Working with Data Frames

Although you can get started with R in SQL Server without understanding data frames, they are a key structure of the R language that are the equivalent of SQL Server table variables. They give you many ways of manipulating and analyzing data and passing it between R and SQL Server. For a database professional, they provide a clear and familiar concept when getting to grips with integrating R into the database.

2017-11-08

3,412 reads

SQLServerCentral Article

Protecting SQL Server Data

This book holds the key to "encryption without fear". In it, John Magnabosco sweeps away some of the misconceptions surrounding SQL Server's encryption technologies, and demonstrates that, when properly planned and implemented, they are an essential tool in the DBA's fight to safeguard sensitive data.

2017-11-07

3,009 reads

External Article

SQL Code Smells

Some time ago, Phil Factor wrote his booklet 'SQL Code Smells', collecting together a whole range of SQL Coding practices that could be considered to indicate the need for a review of the code. It was published as 119 code smells, even though there were 120 of them at the time. Phil Factor has continued to collect them and the current state of the art is reflected in this article. There are now around 150 of these smells and SQL Code Guard is committed to cover as many as possible of them.

2017-11-06

8,928 reads

Blogs

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Lots of FKs

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Real-time On-prem SQL Server Data in Excel – Over the Internet

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Can You Let Go of Determinism

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Question of the Day

Lots of FKs

In SQL Server 2025, what are the most outgoing and incoming FK references a table can have?

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