Dates and Times in SQL Server: DATETIME
Last year I ran a series of posts about Database Fundamentals. Over the next few weeks, I will cover the basics of various date and time data types in SQL Server, when to use them,…
The cloud is not just someone else’s computer
A year ago, I wrote in a post that cloud computing is just someone else’s data center. I was wrong. Whether we like it or not, the cloud is more than just a bunch of 1s…
Introducing Azure Data Studio
(Last edited on 9 January 2020) Note: This was originally written for the book SQL Server 2017 Administration Inside Out, but did not meet the publishing deadline. A revised version is now included in the…
MySQL has this feature that SQL Server needs
In the grand scheme of things, MySQL and SQL Server operate in different realms. It’s difficult to compare them because MySQL is predominantly used for websites as part of the free LAMP stack (Linux, Apache,…
SQL Server 2017 Administration Inside Out
For the last five months or so, I have been helping some really smart people put words on paper, both the physical and electronic kind, which is hopefully going to culminate in an actual technical…
Locks, Blocks, and Isolation Levels
Last week we looked at ACID compliance. This week we dive a little deeper into the Isolation portion, and what it all means. Isolation levels work to manage how my transactions may be isolated from…
Why You Need A Test Environment
In 2017, there’s no excuse not to have at least a testing environment, and preferably a development environment as well, in order to create and deploy code changes (software, database, you name it) outside of…
How to write an UPDATE query
My First UPDATE Statement Last week we covered how to put information into a table using an INSERT statement. This week we will learn how to make changes to data that is already in a…
Normalization, The Sequel
If there’s one thing that SQL Server is really good at, it’s relationships. After all, a relational database management system without the relationships is nothing more than a place to store your stuff. Last week…
A First Look At Normalization
Phew! There’s a lot to take in with data types, collation, precision, scale, length, and Unicode, and we’re just getting warmed up. This week’s post is over 2,000 words long!
Over the last three weeks, we’ve gone fairly deep into data types, and now we are going to see how they come into play with normalization.
If we go back to the first post in this series, I mentioned normalization, and then apparently I forgot about it in the next two posts. What you didn’t see is that I was talking about it all along.
Fundamentals of Data Types
Last week, we discussed storing text in a database. This week we will dive deeper into data types. When storing data in our database, we want to make sure that it’s stored accurately and that…
Data Types and Collation
Last week we started with a very simple definition of a database: a discrete set of information, with a specific structure and order to it. We briefly looked at normalization, which is a way to…
My surname is NULL
Last Wednesday on Twitter, Abayomi Obawomiye (@SQLAmerica) wrote: https://twitter.com/SQLAmerica/status/819252286274695168 I just met someone with the last name NULL today. I really want to ask if they had issues with the last name but worried might…
A dalliance with distance
During a recent engagement, I was tasked with making a query faster. Since I signed an NDA (Non-Disclosure Agreement), I can’t go into detail, but it made extensive use of the STDistance() function of the…
Data Efficiency in SQL Server: DECIMAL
This is part two of a short series of posts about how I assign efficient data types when designing a new table or database. Use less space with BIGINT Last week, I spoke about a…
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