The Code Review Checklist
Code reviews are a part of many software development processes, but not used that often with database work. Today Steve has a few thoughts and asks if you have any formal code review process.
2023-10-16
451 reads
software development
You Always Have a Software Pipeline
If you build software for customers, you have a pipeline. It might not be good, but you have one. Steve recommends you work to make sure this is a repeatable, reliable pipeline.
2023-10-13
93 reads
Modern Development
In some ways, development tasks haven't changed much in decades, but in others the way we build software has changed a lot, especially with regards to data.
2023-10-11
172 reads
2023-09-18
275 reads
Working around schema drift in SQL Server
At Stack Overflow, our environment has multiple implementations of a largely – but not 100% – identical schema. (By “schema,” I mostly mean the set of tables within a database.) I sometimes need to retrieve or update data across a large number of sites. Let’s say, pulling or removing information from the Users table, and related tables, across all of our databases.
2023-09-01
Using Clear Language to Avoid Confusion
Communication can be challenging when we don't work closely with others. Steve draws a comparison with a popular children's show in the US.
2023-08-14
131 reads
We're Not Faster with AI
At Redgate Software, we've been trialing Copilot from GitHub with our developers. I managed to get access for this experiment and have tried a few things, though I'm not sure I've found it very useful. I'll continue to work with Copilot, but for now, I just don't find Copilot AI helping me with the types […]
2023-07-31
203 reads
Large PRs are Bad
Reviewing Pull Requests (PR) is something that developers should take seriously, but Steve doesn't think this always happens.
2023-07-28
351 reads
Creative Development
An interesting approach to schema changes is a creative solution to Steve. He asks if you have other creative solutions you've seen.
2023-07-21
140 reads
A Paste Policy
Steve saw a policy on code usage in software development and wondered how many companies have this.
2023-07-19
163 reads
Blogs
Stupid Things I Did With AI: ASCII Art
By Steve Jones
I ran across this article recently (https://www.gatesnotes.com/meet-bill/source-code/reader/microsoft-original-source-code) and it has a great opening piece...
Simple Talks Podcasting in 2026
By Steve Jones
I’m in the UK today, having arrived this morning in London. Hopefully, by this...
SSMS 22 still inserting tabs instead of spaces
I’m not trying to start up a debate whether you should use tabs or...
Forums
Cumulative Update 23 - KB5074819 - Database Mail - No longer working.
Hi there, Has anyone else had any trouble with Database Mail in Cumulative Update...
Script Task execution error with HTTP request
I have a script task that tries to execute a HTTP request, which seems...
SQL Server 2025 Standard Developer Edition
Comments posted to this topic are about the item SQL Server 2025 Standard Developer...
Question of the Day
URL Safe or Not?
If I use BASE4_ENCODE() in SQL Server 2025, is the output URL Safe by default?
See possible answers