What's Your Area of Expertise?
We might be smart in one area, but not others. That's worth remembering.
Get ChatGPT’s Advice On Your Queries with sp_BlitzCache.
First off, I understand if you read the headline and you have a knee-jerk reaction. I totally understand that there are a lot of people out there who hate AI, and believe me, I hate most uses of it. Lots of its advice can be misleading at best, and absolute garbage at worst.
The Microsoft SQL Year in Review
Microsoft gives a year in review from the SQL Server and Azure SQL teams. Steve sees a lot of accomplishments from this past year.
T-SQL in SQL Server 2025: The || Operator
I have been working in various computer languages for a long time. When I saw that the || operator was coming, I was a bit confused as to why we needed this, and how it would work. After all, this is a part of other languages. I decided to dig in a bit. This is […]
Your Value from a Conference
Today Steve asks what value you get from attending conferences or other events.
SQL Server 2025 Product() Function Examples
SQL Server 2025 includes new features and enhancements. In the previous SQL Server 2025 tips, we have explored many new features. Have you explored the new Product() function? If not, this will walk you through the Product() function with several examples.
Stairway to Azure SQL Hyperscale Level 6: Backup and Restore Internals
Learn how backup and restore work in Azure SQL Hyperscale in this next level in the stairway series.
The Challenge of AI
Steve sees a lot of challenges ahead for AI, especially in the area of labor and employment.
15 Practical Tips for Securing SQL Server
Securing SQL Server isn’t complicated, but it does require consistent attention to the areas where real risks arise, such as privileges, configuration, encryption, patching, and monitoring. This article outlines 15 practical, high-impact steps you can take to harden your SQL Server environment.
Blogs
A New Word: Dolorblindness
By Steve Jones
dolorblindness – n. the frustration that you’ll never be able to understand another person’s...
Claude Code Helps Analyze Test Data Manager Log Files
By Steve Jones
I had a customer ask about analyzing their Test Data Manager (TDM) usage to...
PowerPoint to HTML with Claude AI
By Steve Jones
I had an idea for an animated view of a sales tool, and started...
Forums
Optimism Without Illusion or Why AI Needs Blunt Technologists
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Optimism Without Illusion or Why...
SSIS with VS2022 64/32 issue with Excel files
Hi all, I'm trying to do classic scenario for loading multiple Excel files into...
Case part is sloooooow
Hi So the case statement is slowing this down - but for the life...
Question of the Day
The String Distance I
In SQL Server 2025, what is returned by this code:
SELECT EDIT_DISTANCE('tim', 'tom')
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