Database Weekly

SQLServerCentral Editorial

What will convince you to upgrade?

  • Editorial

You’ve probably heard that SQL Server 2022 is on the way, and, assuming the name doesn’t change, it will be later this year. That is great news for folks in the data platform community as features and improvements they’ve been hoping for are added. I’m not currently supporting any production SQL Servers, but I’m still […]

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2022-04-30

122 reads

SQLServerCentral Editorial

Constant Azure Improvement

  • Editorial

This week I noticed a number of changes in the Azure platform from their change feed. Actually, every week has a crazy number of changes across the entire platform, but this week a number of these were related to data and databases. That isn't always the case, but I saw some interesting items. We have […]

(1)

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2022-04-16

89 reads

SQLServerCentral Editorial

Document yourself out of a job

  • Editorial

Some organizations have policies in place to make sure that everything in their IT infrastructure is documented. There are runbooks, procedures, wikis, diagrams, charts, code comments, and more to make sure that knowledge is available if an employee leaves or when disaster strikes. Not only does the documentation exist, but it’s also organized and easy […]

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2022-04-09

214 reads

SQLServerCentral Editorial

SQLBits Report

  • Editorial

Last week I attended my first in-person event in over two years. SQLBits, the largest data platform conference in Europe, was a hybrid event and marked the first time many of us met in person in ages. It was a huge success as folks from around the world gathered to learn...and celebrate! I heard several […]

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2022-03-19

102 reads

SQLServerCentral Editorial

Please include your DDL

  • Editorial

I haven’t done it much the past few years, but I would answer some programming questions posted in forums back in the day. In the late 90s, I answered Visual Basic questions and eventually switched to SQL Server questions here on SQL Server Central as my career progressed. Answering questions not only assisted someone else, […]

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2022-02-05

114 reads

SQLServerCentral Editorial

T-SQL Requires the Right Approach

  • Editorial

Some of the most problematic T-SQL code I’ve seen over the years originated because the developer approached T-SQL with techniques more suitable for developing applications. I often saw these issues in my consulting days and always took the opportunity to teach the customer instead of only fixing the problems. One reason is that SQL is […]

(2)

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2022-01-15

215 reads

SQLServerCentral Editorial

Education to solve the tech skills shortage

  • Editorial

I’ve been teaching T-SQL to groups of students since 2014 at the non-profit LaunchCode in St. Louis. LaunchCode provides free tech training, paid apprenticeships, and career support to hundreds of people who have the ability and interest but not always the opportunity to land tech careers. For example, not having a college degree can eliminate […]

(1)

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2021-12-31

401 reads

SQLServerCentral Editorial

One to many SQL Server books

  • Editorial

Back in the late 90s, I had one large book on my desk with everything I needed – or thought I needed -- to know about SQL Server. It covered T-SQL, installation, backups, security, and more. Over the years, Microsoft has added components like SQL Server Integration Services and features like windowing functions and improved […]

(3)

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2021-12-11

375 reads

Blogs

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Forums

Learning From Breakage

By Steve Jones - SSC Editor

Comments posted to this topic are about the item Learning From Breakage

Python in Action to Auto-Generate an Optimized PostgreSQL Index Strategy

By sabyda

Comments posted to this topic are about the item Python in Action to Auto-Generate...

Adding and Dropping Columns I

By Steve Jones - SSC Editor

Comments posted to this topic are about the item Adding and Dropping Columns I

Visit the forum

Question of the Day

Adding and Dropping Columns I

I have this table in my SQL Server 2022 database:

CREATE TABLE [dbo].[CityList]
(
[CityNameID] [int] NOT NULL IDENTITY(1, 1),
[CityName] [varchar] (30) COLLATE SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AS NULL
) ON [PRIMARY]
GO
I decide to add two new columns for the StateProvince and Country. What code should I use?

See possible answers