'Topping and Tailing' strings in database tables

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When you are having to extract just part of a string in TSQL, there are a number of techniques you...

Database testing. The ferret and the rabbit

Can one generalize from agile techniques of application testing to database testing. Phil isn't entirely convinced that it can do any more that remove the distracting trivial bugs in order to allow testers to concentrate on the important issues

There cometh a shower

Phil Factor speculates on the damage caused to Cloud providers by the Amazon and Sony Outages.

Serialising tabular and relational data.

Guest editorial by Phil who bemoans the difficulty of transferring tabular data by file between differing databases, spreadsheets and analysis tools.

Is Microsoft neglecting SMO?

Phil Fator, the self-confessed wild man of T-SQL, finally comes clean: he's a secret PowerShell user. But for the DBA, what is PowerShell without SMO? Is Microsoft giving the latter the care and attention it needs?

A Great Deal of Hot Air

Even though neither the science nor politics of climate change is fully established yet, the legislators and bureaucrats have smelt an opportunity to further tighten their grip on IT. A sign of things to come is the EU’s Code of Conduct for Data Centers on Energy Efficiency.

A Quick TRIM, Sir?

The other day, I was answering a question on the ASK.SQLSERVERCENTRAL.COM forum from a programmer who had hit a
problem...

Silly Billiseconds

You have to admire Microsoft for sticking to their guns, even when being palpably stupid. I refer, of course to...

When a Dogma has had its' day

Phil points out that the SQL Server community has a role to play in making sure that the wisdom of SQL Server Pundits is regularly tested and challenged.

No free lunch in the Orchard

Phil Factor finds much to admire in Microsoft's new Orchard application but is frustrated by a design decision that seems to limit its use to low-volume applications, with less stringent security requirements.