Do We Need a PK?
A primary key is a must for every table. Or is it? Steve Jones examines the question.
Bring Array Mapping Capabilities to SQL
Simplify your SQL tasks by giving your queries and stored procedures the ability to iterate over arrays of table names or values.
SQL Server 2008 New DATETIME DataTypes
SQL Server 2008 introduces four new DATETIME datatypes as well as new DATETIME functions.
Hipp, Hipp, Hooray
In an age where commercial interests seem to trump all, it's nice to see someone delivering content out there for free.
TinyInt, SmallInt, Int and BigInt
SQL Server guru David Poole takes a look at the different integer data types and the impact of each of those on your database.
Toward Integrity - Part 2
An exploration of the process of translating a conceptual model to a logical model, and ultimately, a faithful implementation using T-SQL.
Relational Databases 101
In this sample chapter, William R. Vaughn gives you a kick-start on designing relational databases that can perform better, be easier to maintain, and be more successful thanks to a combination of formal rules and informal suggestions to normalize your database.
TSQL Regular Expression Workbench
This Workbench is about using Regular expressions with SQL Server via TSQL. It doesn't even attempt to teach how regular expressions work or how to pull them together. There are plenty of such resources on the Web. The aim is to demonstrate a few possibilities and try to persuade you to experiment with them if you don't already use Regex with SQL Server.
All I Want For Christmas Is ...
What do IT workers want for Christmas? Let us know in this Friday's poll.
Performance Effects of NOCOUNT
Most SQL Server programmers know to use the SET NOCOUNT command to prevent the number of rows message from being returned to the client. But how does this affect performance? Does it make sense to qualify the owner on your objects? SQL Server guru David Poole brings us some performance analysis of how your stored procedures perform.
Blogs
Flyway Tips: AI Helps with Commit Messages
By Steve Jones
At Redgate, we’re experimenting with how AI can help developers and DBAs become better...
Startup scripts in SQL Server containers
I was messing around performing investigative work on a pod running SQL Server 2025...
Using SQL Compare with Redgate Data Modeler
By Steve Jones
Redgate recently released SQL Compare v16, which included a new feature to work with...
Forums
Encoding Strings
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Encoding Strings
Deep Learning and Craftsmanship Matter
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Deep Learning and Craftsmanship Matter
Building a Real-Time Analytics Pipeline with Azure Stream Analytics and SQL Server
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Building a Real-Time Analytics Pipeline...
Question of the Day
Encoding Strings
I have this code in SQL Server 2025. What is the result?
DECLARE @message VARCHAR(50) = 'Hello SQL Server 2025!'; DECLARE @encoded VARCHAR(MAX); SET @encoded = BASE64_ENCODE(@message); SELECT @encoded AS EncodedResult;See possible answers