When writing T-SQL, a lot of developers use either COALESCE or ISNULL in order to provide a default value in cases where the input is NULL. The two functions do have quite different behavior and it is important to understand the qualitative differences between them when using them in your code.
2012-05-08
9,869 reads
The Term 'Big Data' is nothing more than a fad, and we'll soon be cringing with embarrassment at the thought that we ever used it. However, the data, and the challenges to processing it that it presents, will stay with us. If jargon like 'Big Data' helps us focus on the problems, then let’s use it: temporarily, perhaps.
2012-05-07
3,718 reads
With SSIS, you can perform a lookup on data in the course of a task, using referenced data from any OLE DB source. It is a useful feature that enables you to check on the validity of data, or interpret it before proceeding. Robert Sheldon explains.
2012-05-04
3,260 reads
SQL Server 2012 introduces three new built-in conversion functions: PARSE, TRY_ PARSE, and TRY_CONVERT. These functions were introduced to be more familiar to users of expression languages. They perform a subset of the functionality of the pre-existing conversion functions. This article will introduce these three new functions and their usage.
2012-05-03
3,858 reads
The FileTable feature of SQL Server 2012 is an enhancement to the FILESTREAM feature which was introduced in SQL Server 2008. In this tip we will take a look at how to use FileTable feature of SQL Server 2012.
2012-05-02
5,245 reads
SQL Server Reporting Services provides several ways to analyze data; one of them is creating Chart reports. Arshad Ali demonstrates how to create, modifying and beautifying the chart report quickly and easily.
2012-04-30
4,053 reads
This white paper discusses how to reduce planned and unplanned downtime, maximize application availability, and provide data protection using SQL Server 2012 AlwaysOn high availability and disaster recovery solutions.
2012-04-27
3,566 reads
Spatial Point Data queries require particular tuning efforts to enhance performance and improve overall application through put. SQL Server 2012 introduces a few key new features and improvements to assist you in that goal.
2012-04-27
2,152 reads
In my last tip, I shared some ideas for determining if you should consider breaking up the e-mail addresses you're storing, even putting the domain names in a separate table. I performed storage and timing comparisons for working with 10,000 unique e-mail addresses, but I completely ignored data compression. I wanted to revisit the same test case and apply data compression to the tables and see how that impacted the outcome.
2012-04-26
4,884 reads
The introduction of the new analytic functions in the RTM version of SQL Server 2012, such as LAG, LEAD, FIRST_VALUE and LAST_VALUE, with the improved over clause, greatly facilitate the analysis on ordered data sets, such as time-series data. Read on to learn more.
2012-04-25
3,686 reads
2025 exposed a growing gap between AI ambition and operational reality. As budgets tightened...
By Brian Kelley
There's a great article from MIT Technology Review about resetting on the hype of...
By Steve Jones
etherness – n. the wistful feeling of looking around a gathering of loved ones,...
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If I create a multiple column Primary Key constraint, what is the most number of bytes I can include in the constraint?
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