One Rule, Umpteen Constraints
Despite being deprecated for many years, Phil Factor explains why RULEs are still hanging on in there in SQL Server 2014.
Identifying and Solving Index Scan Problems
When you're developing database applications, it pays to check for index scans in the SQL Server query plan cache. Once you've identified the queries, what next? Dennes Torres gives some preliminary guidelines on how to find out why these index scans are being chosen for these queries and how to make the queries run faster and more efficiently.
Cumulative sum of previous rows
I had an update statement that took 3 minutes to run after this code change it took 6 seconds.
Azure Blob Storage Part 9: Shared Access Signatures
In this article, Robin Shahan talks about security and how to control access to containers and blobs using shared access signatures (SAS) and stored access policies.
Efficiency
This Friday Steve Jones asks about how you are tackling your career growth as you get older. Are you getting more efficient?
Self-maintaining, Contiguous Effective Dates in Temporal Tables
'Temporal' tables contain facts that are valid for a period of time. When they are used for financial information they have to be very well constrained to prevent errors getting in and causing incorrect reporting. This makes them more difficult to maintain. Is it possible to have both the stringent constraints and simple CRUD operations? Well, yes. Dwain Camps patiently explains the whole process.
SQL Saturday #372 - Exeter, UK
SQL Saturday, organized by SQL South West, is coming to Exeter, England on April 25. This is sure to be a special event, and as always, offers a free day of training and networking. Register while space is available.
Exploding the Myths of Big Data
As big data application success stories (and failures) have appeared in the news and technical publications, several myths have emerged about big data. This article explores a few of the more significant myths, and how they may negatively affect your own big data implementation.
Are There That Many GUIDs?
Steve Jones talks about a recent survey that showed more people use GUIDs as primary keys than identity values.
Identifying Start Dates not Aligned with End Dates on a Prior Row
When effective end dates don't align properly with effective start dates for subsequent rows, what are you to do?
Blogs
Creating a Pulsing Conducting Baton - Part 1
By Bert Wagner
Train Wreck The last time I watched a high school band nearly fall apart mid-performance...
ISACA AI Material/Exam Prep Discount (May 18 – June 30, 2026)
By Brian Kelley
If you are considering any of the ISACA AI certs like the Advanced Artificial...
A Fabric solution can be very cost effective
By ChrisJenkins
Are you currently using Microsoft Fabric or considering migrating to it? If so, there...
Forums
We Are Eating Our Own Seed Corn
Comments posted to this topic are about the item We Are Eating Our Own...
Before Using AI with Business Data, Read This
Artificial intelligence tools are quickly becoming part of daily business operations, from document analysis...
Designing SQL Server ETL Pipelines That Don't Break at Scale
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Designing SQL Server ETL Pipelines...
Question of the Day
Detecting Deadlocks Quickly
In the Database Engine, when a deadlock is detected, what does the detection interval shrink to (in time)?
See possible answers