The function code is in the code box.  To invoke it, do this:

SELECT * FROM dbo.GetMonthStartAndEndDates(GETDATE())

Or, if using with another table:

SELECT ...

FROM dbo.data_table dt

CROSS APPLY dbo.GetMonthStartAndEndDates(dt.some_date_column) gm

SET...

DECLARE @day varchar(9)
DECLARE @end_date date
DECLARE @start_date date

SET @start_date = '20190525'
SET @end_date = '20190531'
SET @day = 'Wednesday'

SELECT DATEADD(DAY, -DATEDIFF(DAY, day_number, @end_date) % 7, @end_date) AS date_you_want
FROM (
 ...

SELECT ca1.*
FROM #SomeTable st
CROSS APPLY (
    SELECT Col1, Col2, Col3, Col4
    WHERE Col4 <> 'ALL'
    UNION ALL
 ...

;with data as (
select 1 as ID,'Apple' as ProductName,'1' as serving, 'g' as unit union all
select 1 as ID,'Orange' as ProductName,'2' as serving, 'mg' as unit union...

Yes, there is a penalty, because SQL bases its memory allocation on the column lengths.  If you think about it, that actually makes perfect sense, as presumably longer columns would...

The biggest advantage to me of partitioning is being able to do separate compression, reorg, etc., on each partition.

But, I too did have some cases where partition elimination has made...

If possible, put the full details in the "Description" in the backup file.  That way it's always automatically/inherently available with the backup.  The description can be retrieved prior to an...

I'm dating myself here, but:

Bill or George! Anything but Sue!

Oops, I left out one important line, to prevent run-away trigger recursion.  In this case the UPDATE itself would prevent recursion, but it's safer to always check, in case other...

Typically you'd use an AFTER trigger to correct the data.  If you wanted to, you could also have the trigger verify whether the value is a valid date or not.

Here's a sample query that finds jobs that run a certain % of time over previous runs.  Naturally you can tweak the percentages and prior run counts as you prefer...

A clustered index is the table itself.  The PK may or may not be clustered.

So, technically speaking, "index space" in your context would mean non-clustered indexes, which may or may...

Oops.  I didn't subtract from the final result:

(case when [Duration]<'00:52' then '00:00' else DATEADD(SECOND, -52, [Duration]) end)

30 days was a placeholder as much as anything else.  The logic can be as simple or as complex as needed to properly translate the Duration text.  The main idea...

You should add a column to contain the duration in days.  Compute the value once when a row is inserted or deleted (using a trigger).  You don't want to have...