Down Tools Week
Sometimes it's important for a developer or DBA to be given the opportunity to 'shake up their brain'. What falls out is almost always worth having.
2010-04-05
310 reads
Tony Davis
- Interests: football, modern literature, real ale
Double-Entry Bookkeeping for SQL Programmers
All defensive programmers should, in general, avoid unsupported techniques. However, there is a balance to be struck between adherence to 'best practice' approaches to SQL programming, and the need to get the job done. Perhaps certain critical code would benefit from use of the age-old practice of double entry bookkeeping?
2010-03-22
1,021 reads
Democratizing the Microsoft MVP Award
Tony Davis believes that it's time for a little more openness and democracy in the MVP award. In short, it's time to introduce community voting.
2010-02-08
152 reads
How Oslo can you go?
Some developers have reacted with dismay to the recent news that Microsoft’s Oslo project is being integrated into the SQL Server platform and renamed SQL Server Modeling. The overwhelming feeling seems to be that their DSL dream is being snatched away.
2009-11-30
104 reads
A Wish list for the Microsoft Flying Squad
Microsoft is very willing to lend its ear to new feature requests, but sometimes forgets to finish off the ones we've got.
2009-10-19
75 reads
DBAs and the Fear of Maintenance Plans
The Maintenance Plan wizard offers a quick and simple route to make sure essential database maintenance tasks are performed and scheduled. However, it needs to be used with a lot of care, and is no substitute for the judgment, experience and common sense of a flesh and blood DBA.
2009-10-05
395 reads
Did Oracle buy MySQL by accident?
The wording of the statement about MySQL that came out from Oracle after the merger was downbeat. The implication was "Oh no! Another Blooming Database to deal with". But surely they don't plan to just let it drift?
2009-08-17
362 reads
Music for DBAs
Tony Davis explains his theory on why developers and DBAs listen to very different types of music, while working, and offers his list of "classic tracks" for all DBAs.
2009-07-07
334 reads
The Busman's Holiday
It's a holiday weekend, but for some DBA's it's hard to escape the unwanted clutches of IT...
2009-07-06
93 reads
What is the Best Way to Test SQL?
Over the past five or so years, encouraging progress has been made with regard to testing .NET application code...I wish I could say that the same progress had been made with testing SQL.
2009-07-01
563 reads
Blogs
How to Clear the SSMS Cache (SSMS 21 and Later)
By SQLPals
How to Clear the SSMS Cache (SSMS 21 and Later) Updated...
The flight recorder: Replaying what an AI agent did on my SQL Server
By Arun Sirpal
“What exactly did it do on my server?” is the first question a DBA...
Announcements from the Microsoft Fabric Community Conference — Barcelona 2026
By James Serra
Microsoft shared a broad set of Fabric, Power BI, and SQL updates at FabCon...
Forums
Let's Talk Certifications
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Let's Talk Certifications
The Hidden Security Risks of Role Combination in SSAS Tabular
Comments posted to this topic are about the item The Hidden Security Risks of...
The Empty Aggregate
Comments posted to this topic are about the item The Empty Aggregate
Question of the Day
The Empty Aggregate
I have this table in a SQL Server 2025 database:
CREATE TABLE [dbo].[CustomerOrder] ( [OrderID] [int] NULL, [CustomerID] [int] NULL, [total] [money] NULL ) ON [PRIMARY] GOWhat is returned from this code? (answers are for the sum and then the count)
SELECT SUM(total) AS sum,
COUNT(total) AS count
FROM dbo.CustomerOrder;
See possible answers