UPDATED March 26

The Red Gate team is compiling an eBook of SQL performance tips and we want YOUR help.

We’re looking to compile 50 of the best tips to improve database performance and help developers write fast SQL code, and who better to ask, dear reader, than you? Simple-Talk has a great community of incredible boffins, so we’d like to ask you to exercise those brain cells for the common good of SQL coders everywhere. If you submit a tip that ends up being used in the book, you will be credited as an author, giving you FAME if not so much with the Fortune.

Okay, get ready for quick-fire question and answer time.

So what should these tips look like anyway?

Brief, to the point, low on words, and otherwise short. We want 2-3 sentences on a way to improve database performance.

How many can I submit?

As many as your great big heart desires.

Do you have examples of tips so I know I’m on the right track?

Yes.

Can I see some?

Sure!

• Query hints are actually commands to the query optimizer to control how a query plan is generated. These should be used very sparingly and only where appropriate.
• Temporary tables have statistics which get updated as data is inserted into them. As these updates occur, you can get recompiles. Where possible, substitute table variables to avoid this issue.
• If possible, avoid NULL values in your database. If not, use the appropriate IS NULL and IS NOT NULL code.

Are there specific categories you’re looking for?

Yep, ORM, DAL, T-SQL, Index, and Database Design tips are all welcome, though keep in mind the overarching point: the tips should improve Database Performance and/or help you write fast SQL.

Well color-me interested! How do I submit all the tips that are bursting from my mind?

It’s simple! Just email me, Melanie.townsend@red-gate.com and I will see that they are lovingly placed in front of the correct pair of eyes. Alternatively, you can take your chances in the comments section which I will also be keeping under surveillance.

To finish, here’s a blurb describing the project:

As a developer you may or may not need to go into the database and write queries or design tables and indexes or help determine configuration of your SQL Server systems. But if you do, these tips should help to make that a more pain free process.

UPDATE:

Hi all, to contribute to this eBook you can submit tips through this form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1pPhC3jYdQ9bb3s3ko96YxW-cDl0cZ_aZxS-rl9mjytE/viewform

Conversely, emailing me is still a viable option.

Thanks!