One of the most common problems when running SQL Servers is slow queries. The help desk or database team usually hears that described as the application is slow or ...

Everyone wants faster database queries, and both SQL developers and DBAs can turn to many time-tested methods to achieve that goal. Unfortunately, no single method is foolproof or ironclad. But even ...

A common SQL habit is to use SELECT * on a query, because it’s tedious to list all the columns you need. Plus, sometimes those columns may change over time, so why not just do things the easy way? But ...

Whether you’re just getting in to programming or you’ve avoided learning SQL, it’s something every developer faces eventually. You may not be responsible for building and maintaining a database, but ...

Part of the problem is that there is no magic bullet, and for almost every best practice, I can show you at least one exception. Typically, a developer finds his or her own favorite methods — though ...

In-memory databases are all the rage for very fast query processing, but you have to have the right balance of compute and memory for queries against in-memory databases to really scream. Sometimes, a ...

An update to the cardinality estimator feature in SQL Server 2022 will be one of the biggest changes to the database engine since its inception. Database engines like SQL Server are incredibly complex ...

As I discussed in an earlier column, SQL Server keeps a plan cached for each query it sees (assuming the query requires planning in the first place, of course). That's great for speeding up processing ...

As I described here, Power BI can send SQL queries in parallel in DirectQuery mode and you can see from the Timeline column there is some parallelism happening here – the last two SQL queries ...

Overview: Consistent SQL practice across varied platforms builds real job-ready confidence.Guided lessons help beginners, while timed challenges sharpen intervi ...