Taking Care of Things Today
Steve Jones talks about procrastination today and how you might not want to do that with your SQL Servers.
Untrusted Foreign Keys with NOT FOR REPLICATION Option on the Key
My Foreign Keys are STILL untrusted after the double CHECK. Here's how you can fix this issue.
Questions About Pivoting Data in SQL Server You Were Too Shy to Ask
Of all the basic SQL operations, the pivot seems to cause the most problems. It turns out that there are several questions that come to mind while learning about pivoting, but which are seldom asked on forums.
Returning Sorted Record Sets Using the ORDER BY Clause
Having your data returned to you in some meaningful sorted order is important sometimes. If you don’t tell SQL Server you want to order the results of a SELECT statement then there is no guarantee that your result set will come back in a particular order. To make sure a result set is ordered you need to use the ORDER BY clause. In this article I will be exploring how to return an order result set by using the ORDER BY clause.
A Little Empathy
Perspective makes a big difference and Steve Jones looks at how you might change the way you think about clients, customers, and the work you do.
Prevent sp_ Procedures with SQLCop
Learn how you can use SQLCop to prevent your developers from writing stored procedures that are named sp_ something.
Data Cleaning in SQL 2012 with Data Quality Services
Feodor Georgiev provides a thorough walkthrough on setting up SQL Server's Data Quality Services (DQS) and creating the rules it uses to function as a first step towards data cleansing.
Hadoop and SQL Server
Hadoop is a technology that's getting quite a bit of attention in the last few years, including integration with SQL Server. Steve Jones talks about the technology and how it might fit in your career.
Options to Improve SQL Server Bulk Load Performance
In this tip Ben Snaidero looks at how to improve SQL Server Bulk Load performance. He focuses his performance tests on options using the BULK INSERT T-SQL command to judge how the various options affect speed.
Blogs
Databases and AI Agents
By Arun Sirpal
As part of my wider work exploring Claude Code and AI-assisted database engineering, I...
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...
Forums
Why Your Index Isn't Being Used? - Reading Execution Plans to Find the Real Culprit
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Why Your Index Isn't Being...
Distance Metric Algorithms
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Distance Metric Algorithms
What Can AI Really Do?
Comments posted to this topic are about the item What Can AI Really Do?
Question of the Day
Distance Metric Algorithms
What are the distance metric algorithms that can be used in VECTOR_DISTANCE()?
See possible answers