New ideas are untested and spring from rational models (mind junk). Empirical solutions are simple, robust, and proven. I quickly and confidently implement these simple solutions wherever there...

Like a boa constrictor, you just have to keep tightening your grip on it. I've converted hundreds of databases over the years. First I start out with row...

Set your own standards and stick to them.

I have a complex system that generates about 80% of the stored procedures (5000) so I can easily modify error handling for example...

Game over. Human player wins in 17 shots!

It's easy when you cheat.

Thanks for the fun game. Nice interface.

I'd really like to see this rewritten in a modular form. ...

Awesome!

I'm using SqlComplete and SqlCodeGuard and QuickMacros but this fills a hole left by those products.

Thank You.

I've found two big problems with the spaceused report. First, if you have Service Broker and you aren't closing the conversations it will take up a huge amount of...

I see serious problems with taking a RAID chart from IT guys and accepting it as being applicable in any way to SQL Server. SQL Server requires almost the...

Q.E.D.

I added this weird line after the FROM clause and now results are immediate!

OPTION ( OPTIMIZE FOR ( @xml = NULL ) )

I'm sticking with this until it is solved since we have a release coming up in a month. Inside the company I've tried three servers and all take over...

Here is some further information: I ran the script above on a different server and it ran in a second vs. 30 seconds on mine. Both servers are Microsoft...

I wrote...

The attachment is at the very bottom of the article. It is called Settings.sql

A meaningless PK is DEFINITELY my number one rule. I've been programming databases for over 25 years and I've been burned so many times by supposedly immutable keys that...

Is a workday Monday thru Friday? Do you need to be concerned with holidays?

Guids are my preference; I never said they were gospel truth. The difference between guids and identities is that identities get generated on insert whereas guids can be generated...