Are the posted questions getting worse?

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Are the posted questions getting worse?

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Grant Fritchey SSC Guru Points: 398882 More actions · Answer 1

Steve Jones - Editor (9/27/2010)
Most sessions are recorded.
You could also make an appeal to Allen Kinsel to slide one of you two.

Not me. Allen is overworked as is. He's done his best with the schedule. How could he know we'd want to see each other's sessions.

"The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood"
- Theodore Roosevelt

Author of:
SQL Server Execution Plans
SQL Server Query Performance Tuning

jcrawf02 SSC-Insane Points: 24198 More actions · Answer 2

CirquedeSQLeil (9/27/2010)
Alvin Ramard (9/27/2010)
We should have an RSS feed for The Thread.
Like the one in the top right corner?

Anyone else tried to use it? works for me for about 10 posts, then craps out and never updates. I find it easier to just save as a Favorite wherever I stop reading, then go there and pick up what I missed, overwrite my favorite when I reach the end.

---------------------------------------------------------
How best to post your question[/url]
How to post performance problems[/url]
Tally Table:What it is and how it replaces a loop[/url]

"stewsterl 80804 (10/16/2009)I guess when you stop and try to understand the solution provided you not only learn, but save yourself some headaches when you need to make any slight changes."

Grant Fritchey SSC Guru Points: 398882 More actions · Answer 3

Alvin Ramard (9/27/2010)
Grant Fritchey (9/27/2010)
Jeff Moden (9/27/2010)
Grant Fritchey (9/27/2010)
I just got bad news. I've seen the schedule for the PASS Summit. I'll be speaking to an empty room because I'm presenting the same time as Jeff.
Hey Jeff, if I've only got three or four people, we're coming down to your room to watch your presentation.
BTW, it's preliminary & subject to change and before anyone asks, no, I'm not going to tell you when everyone is speaking. I just figured this was a good place to whine about my ill-fortune.
Crud... I was hoping to attend your session, Grant. Seriously.
Is the schedule something that's published? I've not seen anything on the summit website but I could simply be missing it... didn't have much time to look because I'm at work.
Not yet. It will be soon. And yeah, I was planning on going to your session as well. That's just how it breaks sometimes though.
You two should go to each other's session. 😀
Now that would mess things up.

I'd say we could present each other's sessions, but I couldn't do his justice and he'd embarass me by doing mine better. We'll just stick with them as is.

"The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood"
- Theodore Roosevelt

Author of:
SQL Server Execution Plans
SQL Server Query Performance Tuning

TomThomson SSC Guru Points: 104773 More actions · Answer 4

Stefan Krzywicki (9/27/2010)
I just hope I don't fall into the idiots category Jeff was talking about. I don't think I do, but then most idiots don't : -)

I have probably written things that fall into the category that Jeff was talking about. In fact I'm 100% certain that some of the things I wrote about functional databases back in the early days fall into that category, and probably some of the things I wrote about type systems too.

My good luck is that I wrote them back in the 80s/early 90s, that it was mostly on bitnet mail lists not on the web (which didn't yet exist) which are not terribly easily accessible, and even when stuff is accessible it probably has an old email address which very few people will associate with me, and that when a bunch of researchers were throwing research ideas (in type theory) around for debate a non-trivial number of errors were expected anyway.

However, there are some Manchester University Research Reports from that period on the subject of databases, that have my name on them (although I didn't work for MU, my job entailed joint research with MU people and supervising an MU research student, as well as a lot of other things); and those reports were very naive (so naive I hope that no-one ever reads them!). Maybe that was inevitable as the subject was completely new (no-one had done anything on functional databases before, and certainly not massively parallel lazy functional databases - sure I'd tossed ideas back and forth with the usual suspects, someone had suggested that the "post office" model might work for databases, and people had described micky-mouse single user databases, but no real work had been done) but embarassingly naive from the perspective of even a couple of years later, let alone now (a couple of decades on).

Tom

Gail Shaw SSC Guru Points: 1004504 More actions · Answer 5

Tom.Thomson (9/27/2010)
Sturgeon got it wrong. He should have said 95%. At least of the developers I have interviewed I regard 95% as unemployable in any sanely managed company (of course 95% of companies are not sanely managed, so there's little chance of these guys becoming unemployed). Actually, 95% may still be an understatement. 😉

Regarding the 95% of companies, absolutely. Some of the places I've done work at I wonder how and why they're still in business and, seeing as those are companies that are willing to call in a relatively expensive consultant, they can't be anywhere close to the worst around.

Gail Shaw
Microsoft Certified Master: SQL Server, MVP, M.Sc (Comp Sci)
SQL In The Wild: Discussions on DB performance with occasional diversions into recoverability

We walk in the dark places no others will enter
We stand on the bridge and no one may pass

Sioban Krzywicki One Orange Chip Points: 27770 More actions · Answer 6

GilaMonster (9/27/2010)
Tom.Thomson (9/27/2010)
Sturgeon got it wrong. He should have said 95%. At least of the developers I have interviewed I regard 95% as unemployable in any sanely managed company (of course 95% of companies are not sanely managed, so there's little chance of these guys becoming unemployed). Actually, 95% may still be an understatement. 😉
Regarding the 95% of companies, absolutely. Some of the places I've done work at I wonder how and why they're still in business and, seeing as those are companies that are willing to call in a relatively expensive consultant, they can't be anywhere close to the worst around.

I think the worst are the ones that call in that consultant and then don't listen.

--------------------------------------
When you encounter a problem, if the solution isn't readily evident go back to the start and check your assumptions.
--------------------------------------
It’s unpleasantly like being drunk.
What’s so unpleasant about being drunk?
You ask a glass of water. -- Douglas Adams

Sioban Krzywicki One Orange Chip Points: 27770 More actions · Answer 7

Tom.Thomson (9/27/2010)
Stefan Krzywicki (9/27/2010)
I just hope I don't fall into the idiots category Jeff was talking about. I don't think I do, but then most idiots don't : -)
I have probably written things that fall into the category that Jeff was talking about. In fact I'm 100% certain that some of the things I wrote about functional databases back in the early days fall into that category, and probably some of the things I wrote about type systems too.
My good luck is that I wrote them back in the 80s/early 90s, that it was mostly on bitnet mail lists not on the web (which didn't yet exist) which are not terribly easily accessible, and even when stuff is accessible it probably has an old email address which very few people will associate with me, and that when a bunch of researchers were throwing research ideas (in type theory) around for debate a non-trivial number of errors were expected anyway.
However, there are some Manchester University Research Reports from that period on the subject of databases, that have my name on them (although I didn't work for MU, my job entailed joint research with MU people and supervising an MU research student, as well as a lot of other things); and those reports were very naive (so naive I hope that no-one ever reads them!). Maybe that was inevitable as the subject was completely new (no-one had done anything on functional databases before, and certainly not massively parallel lazy functional databases - sure I'd tossed ideas back and forth with the usual suspects, someone had suggested that the "post office" model might work for databases, and people had described micky-mouse single user databases, but no real work had been done) but embarassingly naive from the perspective of even a couple of years later, let alone now (a couple of decades on).

Thanks for the encouragement!

--------------------------------------
When you encounter a problem, if the solution isn't readily evident go back to the start and check your assumptions.
--------------------------------------
It’s unpleasantly like being drunk.
What’s so unpleasant about being drunk?
You ask a glass of water. -- Douglas Adams

Jeff Moden SSC Guru Points: 1004354 More actions · Answer 8

Grant Fritchey (9/27/2010)
Jeff Moden (9/27/2010)
Grant Fritchey (9/27/2010)
I just got bad news. I've seen the schedule for the PASS Summit. I'll be speaking to an empty room because I'm presenting the same time as Jeff.
Hey Jeff, if I've only got three or four people, we're coming down to your room to watch your presentation.
BTW, it's preliminary & subject to change and before anyone asks, no, I'm not going to tell you when everyone is speaking. I just figured this was a good place to whine about my ill-fortune.
Crud... I was hoping to attend your session, Grant. Seriously.
Is the schedule something that's published? I've not seen anything on the summit website but I could simply be missing it... didn't have much time to look because I'm at work.
Not yet. It will be soon. And yeah, I was planning on going to your session as well. That's just how it breaks sometimes though.

I just got the email. They don't have all the sessions nicely laid out in one "spreadsheet" but it's pretty easy to see where the conflicts are once you select a time slot.

--Jeff Moden

RBAR is pronounced "ree-bar" and is a "Modenism" for Row-By-Agonizing-Row.
First step towards the paradigm shift of writing Set Based code:
________Stop thinking about what you want to do to a ROW... think, instead, of what you want to do to a COLUMN.

Change is inevitable... Change for the better is not.

Helpful Links:
How to post code problems
How to Post Performance Problems
Create a Tally Function (fnTally)

Jeff Moden SSC Guru Points: 1004354 More actions · Answer 9

Tom.Thomson (9/27/2010)
Stefan Krzywicki (9/27/2010)
I just hope I don't fall into the idiots category Jeff was talking about. I don't think I do, but then most idiots don't : -)
I have probably written things that fall into the category that Jeff was talking about. In fact I'm 100% certain that some of the things I wrote about functional databases back in the early days fall into that category, and probably some of the things I wrote about type systems too.

Now that Steve brought it up, I can see where I fall into that category myself. I guess I should look at the more postive "at least people are trying" aspect.

--Jeff Moden

RBAR is pronounced "ree-bar" and is a "Modenism" for Row-By-Agonizing-Row.
First step towards the paradigm shift of writing Set Based code:
________Stop thinking about what you want to do to a ROW... think, instead, of what you want to do to a COLUMN.

Change is inevitable... Change for the better is not.

Helpful Links:
How to post code problems
How to Post Performance Problems
Create a Tally Function (fnTally)

Steve Jones - SSC Editor SSC Guru Points: 736212 More actions · Answer 10

Jeff Moden (9/27/2010)
...
I guess I should look at the more postive "at least people are trying" aspect.

If they are trying. Remember that posts, articles, etc. are 4 dimensional. They're written in time, at a certain point in our knowledge base.

Almost as soon as I've written most technical things, I can find some fault with it, or some domain where it doesn't make sense.

If someone writes something that seems off, see if they might have learned something since then. Or if they are trying. Or if they respond to comments questioning what they've done.

SQLRNNR SSC Guru Points: 281334 More actions · Answer 11

Anybody here really good with permissions?

http://www.sqlservercentral.com/Forums/Topic994116-359-1.aspx

Jason...AKA CirqueDeSQLeil
_______________________________________________
I have given a name to my pain...MCM SQL Server, MVP
SQL RNNR
Posting Performance Based Questions - Gail Shaw[/url]
Learn Extended Events

SQLRNNR SSC Guru Points: 281334 More actions · Answer 12

Anybody here have much experience with FirebirdSQL?

http://www.firebirdsql.org/

Jason...AKA CirqueDeSQLeil
_______________________________________________
I have given a name to my pain...MCM SQL Server, MVP
SQL RNNR
Posting Performance Based Questions - Gail Shaw[/url]
Learn Extended Events

UMG Developer SSChampion Points: 13482 More actions · Answer 13

Jeff Moden (9/27/2010)
For better, quicker answers on T-SQL questions, click on the following...
http://www.sqlservercentral.com/Forums/Attachment6921.aspx

Jeff,

You may want to edit your signature, your link to how to ask about T-SQL appears to just be a graphic showing you are a PASS speaker.

Grant Fritchey SSC Guru Points: 398882 More actions · Answer 14

Steve Jones - Editor (9/27/2010)
Jeff Moden (9/27/2010)
...
I guess I should look at the more postive "at least people are trying" aspect.
If they are trying. Remember that posts, articles, etc. are 4 dimensional. They're written in time, at a certain point in our knowledge base.
Almost as soon as I've written most technical things, I can find some fault with it, or some domain where it doesn't make sense.
If someone writes something that seems off, see if they might have learned something since then. Or if they are trying. Or if they respond to comments questioning what they've done.

Yeah, write a book sometime. Then you get to live, for quite a while, with the stupid stuff you spewed out when you didn't know better. It can be a bit painful at times.

"The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood"
- Theodore Roosevelt

Author of:
SQL Server Execution Plans
SQL Server Query Performance Tuning

The Dixie Flatline SSC Guru Points: 53354 More actions · Answer 15

CirquedeSQLeil (9/27/2010)
Anybody here really good with permissions?
http://www.sqlservercentral.com/Forums/Topic994116-359-1.aspx

Not me, Jason. Heck, I don't even like the taste of persimmons.

__________________________________________________

Against stupidity the gods themselves contend in vain. -- Friedrich Schiller
Stop, children, what's that sound? Everybody look what's going down. -- Stephen Stills