I was tagged by Grant Fritchey (aka Scary DBA) in the latest get-to-know-you question. This one asks, “What do you wish you had known when you started?” I could go on for hours about the things I wish I hadn’t had to learn the hard way, but..
2009-02-16
2,038 reads
Someone tagged me, and I’ve lost the email in all the pile up from vacation where I was very, very unwired from work, despite being wired to the world. Actually I’ll make that one my first thing: Know When to Walk Away Not quit, not stop progressing on...
2009-02-16
1,439 reads
SQL Server 2008, code named Katmai, has some very interesting additions to the SQL Server platform to make your development tasks easier. One of these is passing a table variable as a parameter to a stored procedure and regular columnist Jacob Sebastian shows us how.
2009-02-13 (first published: 2007-09-12)
34,311 reads
Steve Jones takes a break today and gives you a fun reel of mistakes and bloopers.
2009-02-13
480 reads
Steve Jones takes a break today and gives you a fun reel of mistakes and bloopers.
2009-02-13
494 reads
This month's installment of "MDX Essentials" examines the HIERARCHY_UNIQUE_NAME intrinsic member property. Join SSAS Architect Bill Pearson in an introduction of this intrinsic member property, which Bill complements with hands-on exercises and sample uses.
2009-02-13
1,582 reads
Last week I posted Speaking at Community Events - Time to Raise the Bar?, a first cut at talking about to what degree we should require experience for speakers at events like SQLSaturday as well as when it might be appropriate to add additional focus/limitations on the presentations that are accepted. I've got a few more thoughts on the topic this week, and I look forward to your comments.
2009-02-13
360 reads
This article is part 1 of a 4 part series that explores the internals of SQL Server Integration Services. This series will focus on the SSIS architecture, buffer management, types of transformation, the execution tree and parallel processing.
2009-02-13
3,960 reads
Testing software is important, and the use of state models can help. This week Steve Jones talks about a new book that exposes software testing at Microsoft.
2009-02-13
830 reads
Testing software is important, and the use of state models can help. This week Steve Jones talks about a new book that exposes software testing at Microsoft.
2009-02-13
778 reads
Next Monday, February 9, 2026, my one-day live online training SQL Server Query Tuning...
By Steve Jones
One of the features we advocates have been advocating for is a better way...
Microsoft fixed the AVX instruction issue in SQL Server 2025 CU1. The container now...
Comments posted to this topic are about the item 25 Years of SQL Server...
Comments posted to this topic are about the item The Decoded Value
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Deploying SQL Server Developer Edition...
In SQL Server 2025, what is returned from this code:
DECLARE @message VARCHAR(50) = 'Hello SQL Server 2025!'; DECLARE @encoded VARCHAR(MAX); SET @encoded = BASE64_ENCODE(CAST(@message AS VARBINARY(1000))); SELECT BASE64_DECODE(@encoded)See possible answers