Putting JSON on an equal footing to XML
In SQL Server, we treat XML with a reverence that is disproportionate to its importance. The SQL Server team have indeed gone big on XML, as Michael Cole’s book reveals. The industry has gone big in another direction: JSON.
TSQL Challenge 76 - Identify the sequence of accounting transactions
The challenge is to identify the sequence of accounting transactions.
How to Kill a Company in One Step or Save it in Three
The majority of companies that suffer a major data loss subsequently go out of business. Wesley David remembers vividly the day when the organisation he worked for found that they couldn't restore their data, and the subsequent struggles that ensued. Shoulda-woulda-coulda.
SQL Saturday #108 - Redmond
Come to a free day of SQL Server training on Feb 25, 2012 in Redmond, WA.
Create, Alter, and Drop Indexes: Stairway to SQL Server Indexes Level 12
Options and impacts when creating, altering and dropping an index
Programmers v Salespeople
This Friday Steve Jones asks whether you think the salespeople or the technical people are more important to the success of a company. And if they should be better compensated.
Use Dynamic SQL to Improve Query Performance
This article by Jonathan Roberts demonstrates how to use dynamic SQL and overcome its downsides.
Solving a Problem Importing Integers Using Format Files
When using format files to import data into SQL Server, the Integer(INT) data type needs special handling.
Blogs
AI Helps Me with My Sloppiness
By Steve Jones
I type fairly well. Well, I type fast, but I do wear out a...
Automatic Index Compaction
By ReviewMyDB
Index maintenance has always meant nightly jobs and a window you have to defend....
The Goldilocks problem – Materialized Views
I’m sure you’ve all heard the tale of Goldilocks and the Three Bears, but...
Forums
SQL Art, Part 4: Happy 4th of July — A British DBA's Guide to Celebrating a War We Don't Talk About
Comments posted to this topic are about the item SQL Art, Part 4: Happy...
How We Handled a Vendor Retry That Loaded Twice in Snowflake
Comments posted to this topic are about the item How We Handled a Vendor...
Cognitive Coverage
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Cognitive Coverage
Question of the Day
Getting the Average
I have this data in the dbo.Commission table in a SQL Server 2022 database.
salesperson commission Brian 12 Brian 16 Andy 7 Andy 14 Andy 21 Steve 20 Steve NULLAll the data is a varchar, and I decide to run this query to get the totals for each salesperson.
SELECT SalesPerson
, AVG(TRY_PARSE(Commission AS int)) AS TotalCommission
FROM commission
GROUP BY SalesPerson
GO
What average commission is calculated for Steve? See possible answers