Data or Experience
Is it more imortant to use the data or your experience? Does one have more weight than the other?
SQL for 8-year-old Math…But Be Careful of Implicit Type Conversion
How we can use SQL to solve a math problem published in The Guardian...but with a caution about implicit type conversion.
How to Get NULLs Horribly Wrong in SQL Server
NULLs in SQL are a mixed blessing. The Three-Valued Logic of SQL has its uses but can cause difficulties to anyone who assumes that NULL has a 'value'. It can make reports go horribly wrong in a number of alarming ways, as Robert Sheldon explains.
Automating SSIS Design Pattern - Stage Delimited Flat File
How long does it take to create to 100 staging packages? The answer will shock you!
Trust People
Steve Jones thinks that we are not doing a great job of harnessing the brain power of our entire teams.
Knee-Jerk Wait Statistics : CXPACKET
With another entry in his knee-jerk series on wait statistics, Paul Randal (@PaulRandal) explains CXPACKET and why it may or may not be a problem.
Data Loss or Downtime
This Friday Steve Jones has a DR poll. He asks what might be more important to you in a disaster and why.
FORMAT() is nice and all, but…
Aaron Bertrand compares multiple date formatting techniques, demonstrating again that SQL Server's FORMAT() is not worth the convenience.
Blogs
Advice I Like: Pyramid Schemes
By Steve Jones
If someone is trying to convince you it’s not a pyramid scheme, it’s a...
Using Prompt AI for a Travel Data Analysis
By Steve Jones
I was looking back at my year and decided to see if SQL Prompt...
FinOps for Kubernetes: Leveraging OpenCost, KubeGreen, and Kubecost for Cost Efficiency
In the era of cloud-native applications, Kubernetes has become the default standard platform for...
Forums
Database file shrink issue.
Hi experts, I have a 3+ TB database on a 2019 sql server which...
The North Star for the Year
Comments posted to this topic are about the item The North Star for the...
Multiple Escape Characters
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Multiple Escape Characters
Question of the Day
Multiple Escape Characters
In SQL Server 2025, I run this code (in a database with the appropriate collation):
SELECT UNISTR('%*3041%*308A%*304C%*3068 and good night', '%*') AS 'A Classic';
What is returned? See possible answers