Editorials

SQLServerCentral Editorial

With the Rise of AI Chat, are Experts Still Needed?

As I looking at the feed of technology stories this week, two things jumped out at me. First, Valentine's day happened to fall on the monthly release day for Microsoft updates and feature previews. If you work with Azure services, specifically in the data platform space, there are a lot of update announcements to work […]

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2023-02-18

200 reads

SQLServerCentral Editorial

The Growth of T-SQL

I saw this tweet recently, where Richie Rump asked what has changed in T-SQL since the SQL Server 2012 version. A few people from Microsoft responded that there were changes in all versions, and while I think some versions have few changes, I decided to look. SQL Server 2012 introduced the window functions with the […]

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2023-02-13

372 reads

SQLServerCentral Editorial

Constant Learning

Yesterday, I had the opportunity, and the privilege, to attend an all-day workshop put on by Bob Ward teaching all about SQL Server 2022 (you can take this too, Bob is presenting it at SQLSaturday Austin and SQL Bits, and there will be more). It was a great day. Bob is an excellent teacher. Even […]

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2023-02-11

122 reads

SQLServerCentral Editorial

Fear of "What If"

Fear and aging. Two of the things that most human beings have in common is that we are scared and getting older. Most of us we fear getting older, but that is a very different conversation altogether. I want to talk about the fear of what if. Today I have two things I am keenly […]

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2023-02-06 (first published: )

240 reads

SQLServerCentral Editorial

Outsourcing Operations

When I first started working in technology in the 90s, it was a time of outsourcing lots of work overseas. Many large companies followed the wave of manufacturing in the 70s and 80s by many companies, including lots of semi-conductor manufacturers. I watched as a number of jobs moved overseas, though fortunately not mine. In […]

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2023-02-06

166 reads

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ORDER BY alias

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Optional Parameter Plan Optimization in SQL Server 2025: Fixing the Kitchen-Sink Search Procedure

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Question of the Day

ORDER BY alias

There is a table tmp_tab:

CREATE TABLE tmp_tab (
id int,
val int
);
INSERT INTO tmp_tab VALUES
(1, 1),
(2, NULL),
(3, 3),
(4, 4),
(5, 5);
You want to order the rows ids by the following expression:
    ISNULL(val, id) + 1
Which of the following queries produces the expected ordering and why? (Select all correct)

See possible answers