Are the posted questions getting worse?

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Are the posted questions getting worse?

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Jeff Moden SSC Guru Points: 1004190 More actions · Answer 1

Florian Reischl (11/12/2009)
I completely confirm Jeff! Some random values are really important to ensure some fine tests.
I prefer this method:
😀

:-D:-D:-D:-D

--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)

spaghettidba SSC Guru Points: 105732 More actions · Answer 2

Florian Reischl (11/12/2009)
I completely confirm Jeff! Some random values are really important to ensure some fine tests.
I prefer this method:
😀

:hehe::-D:hehe::-D:hehe::-D

Thanks Flo for starting my day with a good laugh!

-- Gianluca Sartori

mazzz SSCertifiable Points: 6139 More actions · Answer 3

Alvin Ramard (11/12/2009)
... checksum(mewid()) ...

does that return the checksum of a new cat?

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Bite-sized fiction (with added teeth) [/url]

jcrawf02 SSC-Insane Points: 24198 More actions · Answer 4

CirquedeSQLeil (11/12/2009)
Alvin Ramard (11/12/2009)
CirquedeSQLeil (11/12/2009)
amazing how the thread can make a day go from bad to better. At least one good laugh a day.
At first I thought you said the thread went from bad to better. I was going to say: "What???"
Sorry if you're not having a good day. We try to make everybody's day better on here.
Oh the day got a whole lot better looking at the thread (and all the while not looking 🙂 ).
I have to fix doughhead mistakes by my predecessors. This person thought that AVG was interchangeable with SUM.

It is, AVG(1) = SUM(1). Mathematical certainty. 😀

**EDIT - Damn! Old joke already.....

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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."

Alvin Ramard SSC-Forever Points: 41190 More actions · Answer 5

Jeff Moden (11/12/2009)
Alvin Ramard (11/12/2009)
I wasn't being serious when I made a comment about an article.
Jeff, Bob and I were out in the parking lot discussing what you just mentioned, about 45 minutes before you posted your comment.
So what did you guys come up with in that discussion?

#1 - SSC is a great place for people to improve their SQL knowledge.

#2 - The simple solutions are not always suitable when dealing with large tables. (This was related to random numbers and newid.)

#3 - It was getting chilly in the parking lot.

P.S. Bob, were you wearing a microphone? See Steve's editorial this morning.

Alvin Ramard
Memphis PASS Chapter[/url]

All my SSC forum answers come with a money back guarantee. If you didn't like the answer then I'll gladly refund what you paid for it.

For best practices on asking questions, please read the following article: Forum Etiquette: How to post data/code on a forum to get the best help[/url]

The Dixie Flatline SSC Guru Points: 53354 More actions · Answer 6

Alvin, I just looked read the editorial. Interesting coincidence. I did in fact have a microphone on me, as does everyone who carries a cell phone. The paranoid side of me is convinced that those microphones are always on ... and that "they" are always listening. Steve, may be one of the Powers That Be

(Dangit, where did I put my colander?)

Seriously, Steve, that is an excellent question you raised in today's editorial. Alvin and I really did ramble on to that topic last night. We agreed that VB bears a much closer resemblance to C# than it does to MS-Basic from the Paleolithic Era.

It will be interesting to see what results your poll produces. There is nothing at all wrong with C#, but it's human nature to go with what you know, which is usually what you learned first. Hopefully you will hear from people who have worked with both languages for a significant amount of time. But I suspect this will be very much like the MAC/PC debate.

Jeff, I'm sure you are aware that newID() has been used for random number generation in a couple of articles at least. While I understand you don't like to see pearls cast before swine, I wouldn't worry about it too much. There is a ton of information out there for anyone who cares enough to look. But not everyone cares enough to make the effort, or is quick enough to see the potential in what they read.

In any event, I'm grateful for all the pearls all you folks have shared.

__________________________________________________

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

Steve Jones - SSC Editor SSC Guru Points: 735712 More actions · Answer 7

I hope I'm not one of the Powers that be. If so, they might kick me out soon. I know I frustrate the higher ups at times. Definitely was always more of a worker advocate than a management advocate when I had to be in charge.

I like to think I'm a blue collar guy that got lucky in a white collar world.

Steve Jones - SSC Editor SSC Guru Points: 735712 More actions · Answer 8

finally done getting kids off and feeding the beasts around here. Lucky there's no wind. I'll check the poll now and see what I think of the temperature. I'd like to think that VB.NET works as well as C#, especially since there are a lot of VB people out there.

If any of you experts wants to tackle it, it would be great to see a series of where queries start to fail, or where they don't scale. When does a table that's growing start to cause issues in some queries. If I add 1,000,000 rows? 10,000,000? I'm sure we see queries cause QP changes over time. Would be nice to put some numbers around it and educate people about what to watch out for.

The Dixie Flatline SSC Guru Points: 53354 More actions · Answer 9

Steve, that's not a bad idea but isn't the answer usually "It depends?"

__________________________________________________

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

SQLRNNR SSC Guru Points: 281334 More actions · Answer 10

Agree, the answer to that question is - "It depends"

If we are using RBAR, on a 386, with 256MB Ram - I'm sure we could bring the house down with the query very quickly.

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

The Dixie Flatline SSC Guru Points: 53354 More actions · Answer 11

Still thinking about Steve's idea, it really wouldn't hurt to post up cases where at some point an alternate technique performs faster. The "it depends" really applies to where and when you pass the "pain point." Not only table sizes, but indexes, joins and other stuff can affect that. But it really wouldn't hurt to illustrate the point so that newcomers would understand there isn't a "best" technique. At least they'll know to watch for a pain point as volumes go, and they'll have an alternative when it's time for a change.

I volunteer to do a writeup on row_number() to get the detail of the first row in a series (latest order for each customer) versus querying the max order date for each customer and joining back to the detail table.

__________________________________________________

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

Steve Jones - SSC Editor SSC Guru Points: 735712 More actions · Answer 12

It does depend, but you could take a reasonable server, say an x86 or x64 with 4GB of RAM, 2 cores, and try some common things. Maybe querying some order/order detail stuff, and noting when query plans change.

It wouldn't be an exact model, but it would be good information to know that the difference between 200 rows and 20,000,000 matters in how you write queries.