See Grant Fritchey and Steve Jones at SQL Intersection
Come see Grant Fritchey and Steve Jones (from Red Gate Software) and many more SQL Server experts while you enjoy spring in Orlando, FL at SQL Intersection.
Calculating Gaps Between Overlapping Time Intervals in SQL
There are a number of real-life reporting tasks in SQL that require a 'gaps and islands' analysis. There are a number of techniques around that work, but finding ones that scale well makes for a tougher, but interesting, challenge.
Fixing CREATE TABLE
Steve Jones has a problem with the inconsistency of the CREATE TABLE statement in SQL Server and has an idea on what to do.
Identify the Backup used to Restore the Database
This article will help us identify the backup which was used to restore the database. This may seem simple when the database backup is from the same server but the complications begin when the backup is not from the same server.
DBAs Checklist for Designing and Reviewing SQL Server System Architectures
In this tip, Sadequl Hussain will try to list a few areas DBAs need to cover when they are designing new systems or reviewing proposed solutions.
Caching
A SQL Server database can easily be seen as a bottleneck as all data must be retrieved from a single machine. However a caching strategy in your application and alleviate load and improve performance.
SQL Server Indexed Views: The Basics
Views are a valuable tool for the SQL Server Developer, because they hide complexity and allow for a readable style of SQL expression. They aren't there for reasons of performance, and so indexed views are designed to remedy this shortcoming. They're great in certain circumstances but they represent a trade-off, and they come with considerable 'small print'. Jes Borland explains.
Lawsuits and Data Breaches
Steve Jones notes that a data breach resulted in a lawsuit. How long before that's a common practice, and should we be preparing as data professionals.
San Jose, CA - SQL in the City Seminar - Deployment Stairway
The day before SQL Saturday Silicon Valley, SQL Server MVP Steve Jones will be hosting a free seminar in San Jose on March 14 2014. Join fellow database professionals to learn best practices and practical tips for SQL Server version control, continuous integration and deployment.
Using hash values in SSIS to determine when to insert or update rows
A common method to detect if a row has changed is to compare hashes. Integration Services itself doesn’t have a hash implementation, so in this tip I’ll show how you can implement a hash detection mechanism using a script component, as an alternative to the pure T-SQL solution.
Blogs
Learning from Mistakes: T-SQL Tuesday #194
By Steve Jones
We’re a week late, once again my fault. I was still coming out of...
Stupid Things I Did With AI: ASCII Art
By Steve Jones
I ran across this article recently (https://www.gatesnotes.com/meet-bill/source-code/reader/microsoft-original-source-code) and it has a great opening piece...
Simple Talks Podcasting in 2026
By Steve Jones
I’m in the UK today, having arrived this morning in London. Hopefully, by this...
Forums
Learning From Breakage
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Learning From Breakage
Python in Action to Auto-Generate an Optimized PostgreSQL Index Strategy
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Python in Action to Auto-Generate...
Adding and Dropping Columns I
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Adding and Dropping Columns I
Question of the Day
Adding and Dropping Columns I
I have this table in my SQL Server 2022 database:
CREATE TABLE [dbo].[CityList] ( [CityNameID] [int] NOT NULL IDENTITY(1, 1), [CityName] [varchar] (30) COLLATE SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AS NULL ) ON [PRIMARY] GOI decide to add two new columns for the StateProvince and Country. What code should I use? See possible answers