{"id":2183,"date":"2016-03-22T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-03-09T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/test.simple-talk.com\/uncategorized\/the-20152016-simple-talk-awards\/"},"modified":"2016-07-28T10:48:26","modified_gmt":"2016-07-28T10:48:26","slug":"the-20152016-simple-talk-awards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.red-gate.com\/simple-talk\/opinion\/opinion-pieces\/the-20152016-simple-talk-awards\/","title":{"rendered":"The 2015\/2016 Simple-Talk Awards"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"article-content\">\n<p class=\"start\">It is that time of year once more to vote for the Simple-Talk awards.  These have been awarded annually for some years now and have grown from being initially an &#8216;Editor&#8217;s choice&#8217;, and have come a long way from their origins in a heated discussion   in a smoke-filled room in the Waggon and Horses pub. This year as a change, we invited the Friends of Redgate to provide the nominations. We then selected their most popular nominations for your votes.  Although we&#8217;ve tried to make every nomination specific to the past year, (e.g. books actually published in the past year) we&#8217;ve allowed some latitude. For voting, it is more important to make the award to the nomination that was most important for you in the past year. <\/p>\n<p>It has irked us, here on Simple-Talk, that the IT industry are so shy in giving out awards. You hear of award-winning architects and artists, but what about the award-winning bloggers and database pundits? <\/p>\n<p>Awards are worthless without a popular vote, and this is where we rely on you, the good readers of Simple-Talk to turn these awards into popular acclamation that the winner can rightly boast about.<\/p>\n<p>To place your vote, have a look through the nominations and, when you&#8217;ve made up your mind click on  <a href=\"https:\/\/www.surveymonkey.co.uk\/r\/simple-talk-awards\">the SurveyMonkey poll<\/a> to cast your votes. We&#8217;ll be announcing the winners in the next Simple-Talk newsletter and on Twitter <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Simple_Talk\">@Simple_Talk<\/a>! You&#8217;ve got two weeks to deliberate as voting closes on Wednesday April 6th.<\/p>\n<h2>The Nominations:<\/h2>\n<div> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.red-gate.com\/simple-talk\/wp-content\/uploads\/imported\/2383-img73.gif\" class=\"float-right\" alt=\"2383-img73.gif\" \/><\/p>\n<h3>The most interesting technical blog of the past year:<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li> <strong>R-Bloggers<\/strong> &#8211; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.r-bloggers.com\/\">http:\/\/www.r-bloggers.com\/<\/a>Aggregation of  R news and tutorials contributed by 573 R bloggers<\/li>\n<li> <strong>Page Free Space by Paul White<\/strong> &#8211; <a href=\"http:\/\/sqlblog.com\/blogs\/paul_white\/\">http:\/\/sqlblog.com\/blogs\/paul_white\/<\/a>.Plunging deeply into the details of the way that the SQL Server optimizer works!<\/li>\n<li> <strong>The Morning Brew by Chris Alcock<\/strong> &#8211; <a href=\"http:\/\/blog.cwa.me.uk\/\">http:\/\/blog.cwa.me.uk\/<\/a>A daily list of the best .NET software development blogs recently published<\/li>\n<li> <strong>SQL in the Wild, Gail Shaw<\/strong> &#8211; <a href=\"http:\/\/sqlinthewild.co.za\/\">http:\/\/sqlinthewild.co.za<\/a>A discussion on SQL Server<\/li>\n<li> <strong>CSS SQL Support<\/strong> &#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.msdn.microsoft.com\/psssql\/\">https:\/\/blogs.msdn.microsoft.com\/psssql\/<\/a> Blogs from the CSS SQL Escalation Services team<\/li>\n<li> <strong>The journey to SQL authority, Pinal Dave<\/strong> &#8211; <a href=\"http:\/\/blog.sqlauthority.com\/\">http:\/\/blog.sqlauthority.com\/<\/a> SQL tips and tricks<\/li>\n<li> <strong>The Brent Ozar team blog<\/strong> &#8211; https:\/\/www.brentozar.com\/blog\/SQL Server health checks<\/li>\n<li> <strong>Chris Webb&#8217;s BI Blog<\/strong> &#8211; http:\/\/blog.crossjoin.co.uk\/ Microsoft Analysis Services, MDX, DAX, Power Pivot, Power Query and Power BI<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/p>\n<div> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.red-gate.com\/simple-talk\/wp-content\/uploads\/imported\/2383-1-6fa85b9f-1d9a-49d0-80e7-4059a325ff1b.png\" class=\"float-right\" alt=\"2383-1-6fa85b9f-1d9a-49d0-80e7-4059a325f\" \/><\/p>\n<h3>The technical guru\/expert who you&#8217;d most like to share a beer with:<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Tim Mitchell <\/li>\n<li>Paul Randall<\/li>\n<li>Mark Russinovich<\/li>\n<li>Itzik Ben-Gan<\/li>\n<li>Kimberly Tripp <\/li>\n<li>Remus Rusanu<\/li>\n<li>Grant Fritchey<\/li>\n<li>Brent Ozar<\/li>\n<li>Alice Goldfuss<\/li>\n<li>Pinal Dave<\/li>\n<li>David DeWitt<\/li>\n<li>Erin Stellato<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/p>\n<div> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.red-gate.com\/simple-talk\/wp-content\/uploads\/imported\/2383-5a9213f8-ec33-4528-9cff-7db18475cbfa.gif\" class=\"float-right\" alt=\"2383-5a9213f8-ec33-4528-9cff-7db18475cbf\" \/><\/p>\n<h3>Best database book published in the past year:<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li> <strong>45 Database performance tips for developers<\/strong>, Redgate. <\/li>\n<li> <strong>Pro PowerShell for Database Developers<\/strong>, Bryan Cafferky<\/li>\n<li> <strong>Applied Microsoft Business Intelligence<\/strong>, Patrick Leblanc, et. al.<\/li>\n<li> <strong>Applied Microsoft Power BI<\/strong>, Teo Lachev<\/li>\n<li> <strong>T-SQL Querying<\/strong>, Itzik Ben-Gan<\/li>\n<li> <strong>Big Data: Principles and best practices of scalable realtime data systems<\/strong>, Nathan Marz<\/li>\n<li> <strong>R in Action: Data Analysis and Graphics with R<\/strong>, Robert Kabacoff<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/p>\n<div> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.red-gate.com\/simple-talk\/wp-content\/uploads\/imported\/2383-img78.gif\" class=\"float-right\" alt=\"2383-img78.gif\" \/><\/p>\n<h3>The most useful technical article published:<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li> <strong>Updating rows in incremental loads<\/strong>, Andy Leonard <a href=\"http:\/\/www.sqlservercentral.com\/articles\/Stairway+Series\/76390\/\">http:\/\/www.sqlservercentral.com\/articles\/Stairway+Series\/76390\/<\/a> <\/li>\n<li> <strong>R Basics<\/strong>, Casimir Saternos&#160; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.simple-talk.com\/dotnet\/software-tools\/r-basics\/\">https:\/\/www.simple-talk.com\/dotnet\/software-tools\/r-basics\/<\/a> <\/li>\n<li> <strong>Continuous Delivery with TFS \/ VSTS &#8211; Configuring a Basic CI Build with Team Foundation Build 2015<\/strong>, Graham Smith&#160; <a href=\"http:\/\/pleasereleaseme.net\/continuous-delivery-tfs-vsts-configuring-basic-ci-build-team-foundation-build-2015\/\">http:\/\/pleasereleaseme.net\/continuous-delivery-tfs-vsts-configuring-basic-ci-build-team-foundation-build-2015\/<\/a> <\/li>\n<li> <strong>SQL Server Performance Tuning Using Wait Statistics: A Beginner&#8217;s Guide<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sqlskills.com\/help\/sql-server-performance-tuning-using-wait-statistics\/\">https:\/\/www.sqlskills.com\/help\/sql-server-performance-tuning-using-wait-statistics\/<\/a> <\/li>\n<li> <strong>Identifying and Solving Index Scan Problems<\/strong>, Dennes Torres&#160; https:\/\/www.simple-talk.com\/sql\/performance\/identifying-and-solving-index-scan-problems\/<\/li>\n<li> <strong>Error and Transaction Handling in SQL Server<\/strong>, Erland Sommerskog&#160; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.sommarskog.se\/error_handling\/Part1.html\">http:\/\/www.sommarskog.se\/error_handling\/Part1.html#revisionhistory<\/a> <\/li>\n<li> <strong>The complete guide to PowerShell Punctuation<\/strong>, Michael Sorens&#160; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.simple-talk.com\/sysadmin\/powershell\/the-complete-guide-to-powershell-punctuation\/\">https:\/\/www.simple-talk.com\/sysadmin\/powershell\/the-complete-guide-to-powershell-punctuation\/<\/a> <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/p>\n<div> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.red-gate.com\/simple-talk\/wp-content\/uploads\/imported\/2383-img7A.gif\" class=\"float-right\" alt=\"2383-img7A.gif\" \/><\/p>\n<h3>The most informative and intelligible IT book of the year:<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li> <strong>Microsoft SQL Server 2014 Query Tuning &amp; Optimization<\/strong>, Benjamin Nevarez<\/li>\n<li> <strong>T-SQL Querying (Developer Reference)<\/strong>, Itzik Ben-Gan, Dejan Saraka, Adam Machanic and Kevin Farlee<\/li>\n<li> <strong>Regular Expressions Succinctly<\/strong>, Joe Booth.<\/li>\n<li> <strong>Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future<\/strong>, Ashlee Vance<\/li>\n<li> <strong>Exercises in Programming Style<\/strong>, Cristina Lopes<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/p>\n<div> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.red-gate.com\/simple-talk\/wp-content\/uploads\/imported\/2383-img7C.gif\" class=\"float-right\" alt=\"2383-img7C.gif\" \/><\/p>\n<h3>The hippest NoSQL database:<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Cassandra<\/li>\n<li>Neo4j. <\/li>\n<li>Redis.<\/li>\n<li>MongoDB<\/li>\n<li>Hadoop<\/li>\n<li>CouchDB<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/p>\n<div> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.red-gate.com\/simple-talk\/wp-content\/uploads\/imported\/2383-img7E.gif\" class=\"float-right\" alt=\"2383-img7E.gif\" \/><\/p>\n<h3>The most useful open-source project:<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li> <strong>Open Live Writer <\/strong>&#8211; for blogging <a href=\"http:\/\/openlivewriter.org\/\">http:\/\/openlivewriter.org\/<\/a> <\/li>\n<li> <strong>Restsharp<\/strong>, <a href=\"http:\/\/restsharp.org\/\">http:\/\/restsharp.org\/<\/a> .RESTful APIs are the future.<\/li>\n<li> <strong>JSON.NET<\/strong>. Because JavaScript can&#8217;t parse XML<\/li>\n<li> <strong>AsciiDocFX<\/strong>, http:\/\/asciidocfx.com\/A book \/ document editor to build PDF, Epub, Mobi and HTML books, documents and slides.<\/li>\n<li> <strong>PlantUML<\/strong>, <a href=\"http:\/\/plantuml.com\/\">http:\/\/plantuml.com\/<\/a>A component for very quickly generating all the common UML diagrams<\/li>\n<li> <strong>EntityFramework.BulkInsert<\/strong>, <a href=\"https:\/\/efbulkinsert.codeplex.com\/\">https:\/\/efbulkinsert.codeplex.com\/<\/a>Bulk Insert for Entity Framework<\/li>\n<li> <strong>LinqPad<\/strong>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linqpad.net\/\">https:\/\/www.linqpad.net\/<\/a>The .NET Programmers&#8217; playground <\/li>\n<li> <strong>Finebuild<\/strong>, <a href=\"http:\/\/sqlserverfinebuild.codeplex.com\/\">http:\/\/sqlserverfinebuild.codeplex.com\/<\/a> SQL Server Build utility originally created by Ed Vassie <\/li>\n<li> <strong>SQL Power Doc<\/strong>, <a href=\"http:\/\/sqlpowerdoc.codeplex.com\/\">http:\/\/sqlpowerdoc.codeplex.com\/<\/a>A PowerShell SQL Server &amp; Windows Documentation tool, created by Kendal Van Dyke <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/p>\n<div> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.red-gate.com\/simple-talk\/wp-content\/uploads\/imported\/2383-img80.gif\" class=\"float-right\" alt=\"2383-img80.gif\" \/><\/p>\n<h3>The most esoteric presentation at a tech conference in 2015:<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Adam Machanic &#8211; Query Tuning Mastery: Clash of the Row Goals, SQLBits <\/li>\n<li>Mark Whitehorn &#8211; Analytics Master Class-exploiting exotic patterns in data, SQLBits <\/li>\n<li>Cortana Analytics Deep Dive: Preconfigured Solutions- &#8216;dedicated to pre-built solutions and APIs for natural interactions to &#8230; engage your customers through natural interactions.&#8217;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/p>\n<div> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.red-gate.com\/simple-talk\/wp-content\/uploads\/imported\/2383-img82.gif\" class=\"float-right\" alt=\"2383-img82.gif\" \/><\/p>\n<h3>The most desirable technical gadget of the year:<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Lenova Yoga laptop<\/li>\n<li>Raspberry Pi 2.<\/li>\n<li>DJI Phantom UAV Drone. <\/li>\n<li>IPad Pro<\/li>\n<li>Synology DS415+ <\/li>\n<li>Microsoft Band 2<\/li>\n<li>Microsoft Surface Pro<\/li>\n<li>Bowers &amp; Wilkins P5 Bluetooth headphones<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"note\">Reached a decision? <a href=\"https:\/\/www.surveymonkey.co.uk\/r\/simple-talk-awards\">Cast your votes here<\/a>! Remember, voting closes on April 6th.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Once more it is time for our readers to vote on the top<br \/>\nnominations for the Simple Talk Awards. Here we list the top nominations and the<br \/>\ndazzling award badges. Every vote makes our awards more valuable for the<br \/>\nrecipients!&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":59127,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[4144,4148],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-2183","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-opinion-pieces","tag-opinion","tag-opinion-pieces"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.red-gate.com\/simple-talk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2183","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.red-gate.com\/simple-talk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.red-gate.com\/simple-talk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.red-gate.com\/simple-talk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/59127"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.red-gate.com\/simple-talk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2183"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.red-gate.com\/simple-talk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2183\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":41285,"href":"https:\/\/www.red-gate.com\/simple-talk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2183\/revisions\/41285"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.red-gate.com\/simple-talk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2183"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.red-gate.com\/simple-talk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2183"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.red-gate.com\/simple-talk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2183"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.red-gate.com\/simple-talk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=2183"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}