Understanding a Database
The ways in which you might try and reverse engineer a database design are on Steve's mind today.
INFO.VIEW DAX Functions Usage and Examples
In the December 2023 Microsoft Power BI Desktop release, more than 50 new INFO DAX functions were added. They all start with “INFO.” and return the same result as corresponding data management views (DMVs) that were available before only using a SQL-like syntax. With these new DAX functions, you can use the recently added DAX query to get metadata about your semantic mode
Shadow AI Data Leak Risk or “From the Desk of I saw that Coming”
CSO recently published an article based on a report from Harmonic about generative AI data leaks, and the findings were eye-opening. According to the report, over 8% of employee prompts to public large language models (LLMs) contained sensitive data, ranging from security and compliance issues to privacy and legal vulnerabilities. This wasn’t just a handful […]
Tracking Table Sizes
Today Steve asks if you track the details of your table growth inside a database.
Exploring Scalar Solutions to Complex Data Math
There are many functions and tools available to database professionals that can solve data math challenges, regardless of complexity.
An Effective Approach for High Volume Data in Azure Synapse
Learn about how you can efficiently load data in Azure Synapse.
The Job Outlook for Database Professionals
The job outlook for database professionals is good, but it's not that easy to get a great job. Steve has some advice for you today.
The Power of Generate_series
SQL 2022 introduced the function generate_series which permits us to solve problems for which we previously had to use a table of numbers (also known as a "tally table"). generate_series is a great addition, because when using a table of numbers there was always a risk that you could run out of numbers. Or some joker could have deleted rows from the table. All these worries are gone with generate_series.
Determining Whether Home Addresses Fall Within a Tornado Polygon Using Spatial Functions
Geographic information systems (GIS) play a critical role in emergency response planning and risk assessment. One of the key challenges in this field is determining whether a specific location falls within an area of interest. This capability is especially valuable for property and casualty (P&C) insurers, who need to assess their insured property exposure when severe weather events such as tornadoes occur.
A Poor Data Model
Steve has a few thoughts on natural keys, which often turn out not to be as unique as we expect.
Blogs
Finding Balance: Things Will Come Up
By Steve Jones
I have a presentation on finding balance in your career that got quite a...
Who Are You Doing It For?
By Brian Kelley
But as I've matured over the years, I came to realize that I needed...
Presenting Twice in May 2026
By alevyinroc
I will be presenting my latest session, Documenting Your Work for Worry-Free Vacations, in-person...
Forums
How to change the FDLaunch Error log file location
The file FDLAUNCHERRORLOG gets created in the default <instance>\MSSQL\Log folder. So far, I've found...
what data type i should use for roversion col and can i use less than greater
can i use Rowversioncol ( in my database it's synonyme timestamp is used) to...
Radius Latitude Longitude
I have a table with latitude longitude in the format. 45.123456 , -111.123456 ,...
Question of the Day
A Fun Computer Quote
Which movie featured this quote?
"All programs have a desire to be useful."Happy April Fools! See possible answers