Using a Surrogate vs Natural Key
A common debate in table architecture is whether to use a natural or surrogate key. In this article, I discuss some of the advantages to each method.
Database Tools and Extensions for Visual Studio 2019
In this article, you will explore tools and extensions that can be used with Visual Studio 2019 to improve your database experience irrespective of what database you use.
A User-Defined Function returns more rows
The Problem Recently, while working with one of my clients, I came across a script in which I had to introduce a scalar User-Defined Function in the SELECT statement. The SELECT used to return around 750K records. However, after introducing the UDF, the row count significantly increased to 826K. There were no other changes made […]
Aging in Technology
As we grow and evolve in our careers, we face new challenges all the time. Steve highlights on of those that some tech workers worry about today.
Building Machine Learning Models to Solve Practical Problems
Machine learning is a skill that many data professionals are learning as they plan their careers over the next five to ten years. In this article, Supriya Pande gives an overview of machine learning and walks through a practical example.
Capturing the business value of Compliant Database DevOps
You’ve probably heard of Compliant Database DevOps, but to take it from buzzword to boardroom relies on demonstrating value across your business. IT leaders must think more broadly than cost savings and ROI calculations when investing in scaling DevOps across database teams.
Our latest whitepaper explains how to lay the foundations for a successful DevOps implementation, and how to track success against global metrics that demonstrate your team’s impact across the business.
Moving beyond principal components analysis
Principal components analysis is a standard, but usually terrible, technique for visualising complex data. We're using network diagrams to solve this problem.
The Work of the Ancients
We tend to keep data around for a long time. Today Steve Jones is looking to see how long you've kept your databases around.
Find SQL Server Installation Date for all Instances with PowerShell
In this tip we look at a PowerShell script you can use to gather information about the installation date for all of your SQL Servers.
Blogs
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...
Monday Monitor Tips: Virtual Machine Usage and Cost
By Steve Jones
One of the things I’ve been requesting for a number of years is cost...
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