Are the posted questions getting worse?

  • GSquared (9/15/2011)


    Ninja's_RGR'us (9/15/2011)


    GSquared (9/15/2011)


    Ninja's_RGR'us (9/15/2011)


    Anybody got deep-ish cardinality / index / stats knowledge?

    Not my forte!

    http://www.sqlservercentral.com/Forums/Topic1174681-338-1.aspx

    I put what I could.

    Much better than what I could have done without someone proof reading. I get this stuff at a very high level, but teaching it is another thing! 😉

    It's really just a question of making the words "your own". It's been proven, over and over and over again, that explaining a complex subject in a simple manner is difficult in direct proportion to the degree that the person explaining it doesn't fully "own" the terminology.

    It's a great way to tell an "authority" from an "expert". "Authority", in this use, is someone who can talk the talk but can't walk the walk, while "expert" or "professional" means someone who can do both.

    Edit: Realized the above might be read in an insulting manner. Not intended that way. You're definitely a pro, just not on this particular subject of stats. Right?

    Meaning that you need to be able to explain it in your own words? Versus repeating what you've seen elsewhere? (cornfused)

    ---------------------------------------------------------
    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."

  • GSquared (9/14/2011)

    •80 percent of poor households have air conditioning

    •Nearly three-fourths have a car or truck, and 31 percent have two or more cars or trucks

    •Nearly two-thirds have cable or satellite television

    •Two-thirds have at least one DVD player and 70 percent have a VCR

    •Half have a personal computer, and one in seven have two or more computers

    •More than half of poor families with children have a video game system, such as an Xbox or PlayStation

    •43 percent have Internet access

    •One-third have a wide-screen plasma or LCD television

    •One-fourth have a digital video recorder system, such as a TiVo

    From Stephen Colbert:

    The report proves that the poor are just not living down to our expectations. If you still have the strength to brush the flies off your eyeballs, you're just not really poor.

  • GilaMonster (9/14/2011)


    Another request:

    I'm bunking tonight and starting the rewrite of my rather old (and second-ever) article Managing Transaction Logs[/url]. Other than when and when not to shrink (which definitely has to go in there), what else do people think I need to add or expand on?

    How about keeping transaction logs on a separate i/o subsystem?

  • Hey, I exhausted my expertise on connectivity on this thread, http://www.sqlservercentral.com/Forums/Topic1175071-5-1.aspx, so if someone else could take a look I'm sure the OP would appreciate it.

  • jcrawf02 (9/15/2011)


    GSquared (9/15/2011)


    Ninja's_RGR'us (9/15/2011)


    GSquared (9/15/2011)


    Ninja's_RGR'us (9/15/2011)


    Anybody got deep-ish cardinality / index / stats knowledge?

    Not my forte!

    http://www.sqlservercentral.com/Forums/Topic1174681-338-1.aspx

    I put what I could.

    Much better than what I could have done without someone proof reading. I get this stuff at a very high level, but teaching it is another thing! 😉

    It's really just a question of making the words "your own". It's been proven, over and over and over again, that explaining a complex subject in a simple manner is difficult in direct proportion to the degree that the person explaining it doesn't fully "own" the terminology.

    It's a great way to tell an "authority" from an "expert". "Authority", in this use, is someone who can talk the talk but can't walk the walk, while "expert" or "professional" means someone who can do both.

    Edit: Realized the above might be read in an insulting manner. Not intended that way. You're definitely a pro, just not on this particular subject of stats. Right?

    Meaning that you need to be able to explain it in your own words? Versus repeating what you've seen elsewhere? (cornfused)

    Nope. I made that unclear to illustrate the concept. What the heck does "own" mean in terms of "owning words"? That you have the legal right to rent them out? Was just wondering who'd bring it up.

    In this context, a person "owns" a word that they fully understand it at a conceptual level. They have no hesitation in using or understanding it, they know exactly, fully, what it means, without qualification or uncertainty.

    Even within that, there are degrees of understanding, such as a philosopher's meaning of "truth" vs a lawyer's meaning of the same word. (Put in joke about the meaning of "is" here.) But in any case, there's a full grasp of the use of the word.

    You might be surprised how many people have uncertainties about even common words. Write down your definitions for "or", "is", "it", "run", "by", and the symbol ";", and then compare those definitions to what you can find in a good dictionary. Don't look them up first, write down the definitions first. If you have to pause for even a full second to think about the definitions, you don't "own" them in this sense. If your written definitions are substantially different from those in the dictionary, you don't own them either. (Substantially, here, means "not the same concept", as opposed to "not worded the same way". If, for example, you wrote the definition of "you" as "the person I'm talking to", and the dictionary says it's "second person; the person the communication is directed to", that's the same concept and you got it. If you defined "you" as "any person other than me", then you missed, since "you" wouldn't usually be the correct way to refer to a third party who's not involved in the immediate conversation. Clear?)

    Try the above exercise, just for the fun of it. Have a few people you know try it. Most people will come up with a definition that approaches general correctness for common use, but will hesitate substantially, even for several seconds (more than a minute is rare but does happen) in doing so. Many will have a partial definition, usually matching the first or second definition in the dictionary but not including more nuanced meanings.

    Then, try it with some of the technical words of your profession. How many can rattle off a solid definition of the word "index", including both the technical definitions and the common-use definitions? How many can define "database" without having to check a reference first? And, "it's a place where you keep data" is definitely a partial definition here.

    I suspect most on The Thread will get the small, common words pretty easily. Most will get a database technical lexicon reasonably close or even textbook. But how many can define "cardinality" without looking it up or with total certainty? Come up with your own examples that you run into where devs or newbie DBAs just don't "get the word".

    You have to be able to do those things before you can begin to explain them to a layman without just parroting "something I read somewhere" kind of stuff. Have an HVAC engineer explain how an air conditioner works. If he can do so in plain English (or whatever his native language is), he really knows his subject. If he can't explain it without using technical jargon, he doesn't "own" the words, otherwise he could use definitions or simple concepts instead of terms.

    Make sense?

    - Gus "GSquared", RSVP, OODA, MAP, NMVP, FAQ, SAT, SQL, DNA, RNA, UOI, IOU, AM, PM, AD, BC, BCE, USA, UN, CF, ROFL, LOL, ETC
    Property of The Thread

    "Nobody knows the age of the human race, but everyone agrees it's old enough to know better." - Anon

  • GSquared (9/15/2011)


    But how many can define "cardinality" without looking it up or with total certainty?

    Way too many people when they give a definition of cardinality actually give a (correct or mostly correct) definition of density. 🙁 And don't get me started on how badly the term 'selectivity' is used.

    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
  • Just saying that we only need 98 more posts for 30,000

    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 (9/15/2011)


    Just saying that we only need 98 more posts for 30,000

    how many?

    Wayne
    Microsoft Certified Master: SQL Server 2008
    Author - SQL Server T-SQL Recipes


    If you can't explain to another person how the code that you're copying from the internet works, then DON'T USE IT on a production system! After all, you will be the one supporting it!
    Links:
    For better assistance in answering your questions
    Performance Problems
    Common date/time routines
    Understanding and Using APPLY Part 1 & Part 2

  • WayneS (9/15/2011)


    SQLRNNR (9/15/2011)


    Just saying that we only need 98 more posts for 30,000

    how many?

    Ummm - 96

    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

  • GSquared (9/15/2011)


    Nope. I made that unclear to illustrate the concept. What the heck does "own" mean in terms of "owning words"? That you have the legal right to rent them out? Was just wondering who'd bring it up.

    In this context, a person "owns" a word that they fully understand it at a conceptual level. They have no hesitation in using or understanding it, they know exactly, fully, what it means, without qualification or uncertainty.

    Even within that, there are degrees of understanding, such as a philosopher's meaning of "truth" vs a lawyer's meaning of the same word. (Put in joke about the meaning of "is" here.) But in any case, there's a full grasp of the use of the word.

    You might be surprised how many people have uncertainties about even common words. Write down your definitions for "or", "is", "it", "run", "by", and the symbol ";", and then compare those definitions to what you can find in a good dictionary. Don't look them up first, write down the definitions first. If you have to pause for even a full second to think about the definitions, you don't "own" them in this sense. If your written definitions are substantially different from those in the dictionary, you don't own them either. (Substantially, here, means "not the same concept", as opposed to "not worded the same way". If, for example, you wrote the definition of "you" as "the person I'm talking to", and the dictionary says it's "second person; the person the communication is directed to", that's the same concept and you got it. If you defined "you" as "any person other than me", then you missed, since "you" wouldn't usually be the correct way to refer to a third party who's not involved in the immediate conversation. Clear?)

    Try the above exercise, just for the fun of it. Have a few people you know try it. Most people will come up with a definition that approaches general correctness for common use, but will hesitate substantially, even for several seconds (more than a minute is rare but does happen) in doing so. Many will have a partial definition, usually matching the first or second definition in the dictionary but not including more nuanced meanings.

    Then, try it with some of the technical words of your profession. How many can rattle off a solid definition of the word "index", including both the technical definitions and the common-use definitions? How many can define "database" without having to check a reference first? And, "it's a place where you keep data" is definitely a partial definition here.

    I suspect most on The Thread will get the small, common words pretty easily. Most will get a database technical lexicon reasonably close or even textbook. But how many can define "cardinality" without looking it up or with total certainty? Come up with your own examples that you run into where devs or newbie DBAs just don't "get the word".

    You have to be able to do those things before you can begin to explain them to a layman without just parroting "something I read somewhere" kind of stuff. Have an HVAC engineer explain how an air conditioner works. If he can do so in plain English (or whatever his native language is), he really knows his subject. If he can't explain it without using technical jargon, he doesn't "own" the words, otherwise he could use definitions or simple concepts instead of terms.

    Make sense?

    Nice, yes, thanks. Great way to evaluate whether you're ready to explain something to someone.

    ---------------------------------------------------------
    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."

  • GilaMonster (9/15/2011)


    GSquared (9/15/2011)


    But how many can define "cardinality" without looking it up or with total certainty?

    Way too many people when they give a definition of cardinality actually give a (correct or mostly correct) definition of density. 🙁 And don't get me started on how badly the term 'selectivity' is used.

    I was going to start talking about red hats and puffs of smoke...

    ---------------------------------------------------------
    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."

  • jcrawf02 (9/15/2011)


    I was going to start talking about red hats and puffs of smoke...

    Lol

    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
  • Jack Corbett (9/15/2011)


    Hey, I exhausted my expertise on connectivity on this thread, http://www.sqlservercentral.com/Forums/Topic1175071-5-1.aspx, so if someone else could take a look I'm sure the OP would appreciate it.

    I added some information to the thread as well. The op just turned the local firewall off. I think he/she needs to turn the firewall on and open just the right ports and allow access to the right executable.

    -Roy

  • Congrats Jeff on the Exceptional DBA Award!!! Very well deserved.

    And sorry for being late the the chorus of Jeff Modem congradulators.:-D

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  • SQLRNNR (9/15/2011)


    WayneS (9/15/2011)


    SQLRNNR (9/15/2011)


    Just saying that we only need 98 more posts for 30,000

    how many?

    Ummm - 96

    Make up your mind. No guessing 😉

    Johan

    Learn to play, play to learn !

    Dont drive faster than your guardian angel can fly ...
    but keeping both feet on the ground wont get you anywhere :w00t:

    - How to post Performance Problems
    - How to post data/code to get the best help[/url]

    - How to prevent a sore throat after hours of presenting ppt

    press F1 for solution, press shift+F1 for urgent solution 😀

    Need a bit of Powershell? How about this

    Who am I ? Sometimes this is me but most of the time this is me

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