SQLServerCentral Editorial

Non-Stop Learning

There was a recent discussion in the forums here at SQL Server Central regarding the difficulties presented by the constantly shifting technology landscape. The core question was, how on earth do you master stuff? Especially, how do you master things when they're both new and constantly changing? Honestly, you don't. I mean, you can, but […]

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Optimize Your SQL by Reformulating the Spec

As SQL developers, we tend to think of performance tuning in terms of crafting the best table indices, avoiding scalar and table valued functions, and analyzing query plans (among other things). But sometimes going back to the spec and applying some properties of elementary math can be the best way to begin to improve performance of SQL queries which implement mathematical formulas. This article is a case study of how I used this technique to optimize my SQL implementation of the Inverse Simpson Index.

External Article

DevOps as a bludgeon

With both personal experience and the real world evidence to back it up, Grant Fritchey says, unequivocally, a well-implemented DevOps process helps the organization. But it's not always easy to bridge a siloed organization, and sometimes organizations adopt DevOps for the wrong reasons.

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Question of the Day

BIT_COUNT I

In SQL Server 2025, I have a table (dbo.UserPermission) that contains this data:

UserID  UserPermissions
15
23
37
What is returned when I run this code:
select bit_count(UserPermissions) as PermissionCount
from dbo.UserPermission
where UserID = 3;

See possible answers