Caution with EXCEPT

The EXCEPT operator, introduced in SQL Server 2005, can be handy in some situations where you are comparing data between two tables. New author Stephen Tirone brings us a potential issue to be aware of with this operator.

Exec on Linked Server

A Genetic Algorithm Sample in T-SQL

Bill Talada brings us an interesting use of T-SQL. Imagine you have a robot moving around a grid and it needs to complete various actions. How do you find the smart robots across many generations?

Optimising “Ends With” searches with REVERSE

A simple way to improve performance for queries that use the LIKE operator. Ben Seaman shows how to deal with searches that look at the end of a piece of text

T-SQL

T-SQL Output Clause

Dynamic SQL

Temporary objects

The SQL of Scrabble and Rapping

In which Phil decides to use a table consisting of all the common words in English to explore ways of cheating at Scrabble and writing doggerel using SQL Server. He then issues a SQL challenge.

Using T-SQL to Transform XML Data to a Relational Format

More and more data is being stored or transmitted in an XML format. New author Nasir Mirza brings us an article that examines how to transform a number of XML structures into different relational formats for storage in SQL Server.