Operator Precedence versus the Confusing Constraint Translation

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The other day, a person I work with was creating some fairly complex CHECK constraints to protect data in a new table that was being created (a practice I am 100% for: https://www.red-gate.com/simple-talk/blogs/eliminating-annoying-space-characters-via-check-constraints/. The multiple constraints were combined into just one, with several conditions condensed into a single Boolean expression, using several ANDs, ORs, and … Read more
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Finding overlapping ranges of data

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This week, I had a problem where I needed to find and eliminate from the results of my query, data with overlapping ranges. I have written about this topic before, in my database design book book, in regards to building a trigger to avoid overlapping ranges. But even though I have written on the topic … Read more
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Music City Data – A Conference for Data Professionals

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Update: the schedule is out there, and as we promised, the topics are diverse. http://www.musiccitycode.com/sessions/ The conference starts in just two weeks (Music City Data sessions are all on Saturday), so if you are a developer using data, agile, and really most any programming technologies, in driving distance to Nashville, you still have time to easily prod … Read more
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What Counts for a DBA – Deadlines

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Everyone needs deadlines. Even the beavers. They loaf around all summer, but when they are faced with the winter deadline, they work like fury. If we didn’t have deadlines, we’d stagnate. ― Walt Disney I hate deadlines. Really. I truly hate them. The problem is: they are usually unrealistic, often not much more than a wild … Read more
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Matters of Timing in Concurrency

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There are a few topics in SQL Server that I love academically, but are truly a pain to get right. The other is security, and it pales in comparison to how much trouble it is to program for truly safe concurrent access to a resource. The biggest issue: time. What makes it more difficult is … Read more
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What Counts For A DBA – Adequacy

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“Aim High!” “You could be president some day!” “You’re just as smart as that Einstein kid down the street” … …And other crazy things parents tell their kids. Of course, very few kids grow up to be President, or a groundbreaking scientist. Most of us are merely adequate. Adequate parents, and adequate at our jobs, … Read more
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Inline Index Definition

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There are a lot of features of SQL Server that I (and I know some of you), never really get around to using, usually because you have your ways, you have done things the same way for 100 years, and it all works fine enough. You may have heard of a feature, but said I … Read more
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What Counts for a DBA – Decorations

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I was whistling contentedly as I hung up the Christmas Decorations. It may have been ‘Jingle Bells’, or it could have been ‘Santa didn’t buy me a bow-wow’: Christmas songs are creepily similar. As I hung up the lights on the Christmas tree, I was struck by the thought ‘Decorations are not decorations at all, … Read more
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What Counts For a DBA – Manners

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Manners, learned as soon as possible in life, give us social skills without us having to figure them out. While our parents and teachers made us feel as if they were laws, manners vary from laws in one important way. Laws are hard and fast rules that exist naturally (like gravity or relativity), or from … Read more
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