Research on the Changing Workplace
The workplace is certainly changing with the COVID-19 pandemic. Steve shares a few learnings from Microsoft's work from home experiment.
Install SQL Server Integration Services in Visual Studio 2019
Learn the step by step process to install SQL Server 2019 Integration Services in Visual Studio as well as the history for the tool.
Tracking use of Deprecated SQL Server Features
Phil Factor explains how to use SQL Prompt, or SQL Change Automation, to detect use of deprecated SQL Server syntax, during development, and Dynamic Management Views and Extended Events to track its use on working databases.
Honorifics in the 21st century
As data professionals, we should understand how language and forms of address can impact our data model. In the 21st century, we should also learn how to communicate with colleagues in a respectful and professional manner.
Getting Started with Azure Blueprints
Learn about Azure Blueprints, available in the Azure portal, which is a new method of deploying Azure Resources through ARM templates.
The Old Way or the New Way
Learning to adapt the way we work is important for advancing our career, but this can be harder than we expect.
Creating a Simple Development Harness with SQL Compare and SQL Data Generator
There is no single, correct approach to developing and testing your SQL batches and routines. It depends on the requirement. For simple tasks, like modifying and testing a view or stored procedure, SQL Compare and SQL Data Generator, combined, provide a useful, lightweight development harness.
What If You Really DO Need to Shrink a Database?
You’ve heard that shrinking a database is bad because it introduces both external and internal fragmentation, it causes blocking, it causes transaction log growth while it runs, and it’s slow and single-threaded. You understand that if it’s just a matter of 10-20-30% of a database, and the database is only 100-200GB, you might as well just leave the space there, because you’re gonna end up using it anyway.
Access external data from Azure Synapse Analytics using Polybase
Learn how you can use Polybase technology in Azure Synapse to load data into your warehouse.
Blogs
DiskANN Experiment — Exploring Entry Points and Graph Neighborhoods
Introduction I was experimenting with vector search in SQL Server 2025 using approximately 3.8...
T-SQL Tuesday #203: Risk and Reward
By Steve Jones
This is timely, as I’m currently on a boat in the Adriatic taking a...
dataMinds Connect 2026 – Slides & Scripts
You can find the slides and SQL scripts for my session “Spice up your...
Forums
Training the next generation
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Reusing Customer Specific Order Filtering Logic with CROSS APPLY and an Inline TVF (Part 4)
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Reusing Customer Specific Order Filtering...
PostgreSQL psql Meta Commands: Databases
Comments posted to this topic are about the item PostgreSQL psql Meta Commands: Databases
Question of the Day
PostgreSQL psql Meta Commands: Databases
Which of the following meta commands (sometimes called backslash or slash commands) within psql will provide you with information about the databases on the cluster?
See possible answers