Are the posted questions getting worse?

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Are the posted questions getting worse?

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Gail Shaw SSC Guru Points: 1004504 More actions · Answer 1

GSquared (3/19/2010)
Well, I get to tell stories about riding a horse home through the woods at 40 degrees below zero with enough wind-chill to make spit freeze before it could hit the ground, at night, in a blizzard. Unfortunately, it was only uphill one way, but it was after school, so that counts for something.
If I'm telling that one, and you're telling a story about, "I went outside and it was pleasantly warm", guess which one will get more attention in most audiences.

So what about the story of walking outside and the heat hitting like a hammer, sweat evaporating before it hit the ground? No need to start a fire to cook breakfast, a frying pan placed on the sidewalk got hot enough to fry eggs and bacon.

No, it doesn't get quite that hot here. 6 hours drive north (Messina), it does.

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

SQLRNNR SSC Guru Points: 281334 More actions · Answer 2

GilaMonster (3/19/2010)
GSquared (3/19/2010)
Well, I get to tell stories about riding a horse home through the woods at 40 degrees below zero with enough wind-chill to make spit freeze before it could hit the ground, at night, in a blizzard. Unfortunately, it was only uphill one way, but it was after school, so that counts for something.
If I'm telling that one, and you're telling a story about, "I went outside and it was pleasantly warm", guess which one will get more attention in most audiences.
So what about the story of walking outside and the heat hitting like a hammer, sweat evaporating before it hit the ground? No need to start a fire to cook breakfast, a frying pan placed on the sidewalk got hot enough to fry eggs and bacon.
No, it doesn't get quite that hot here. 6 hours drive north (Messina), it does.

It does here. I moved from the snow and winter wonderland (miss the white stuff) to the desert. During the summer we can expect 115 - 120 during the day, and still 100 after dusk.

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

Lynn Pettis SSC Guru Points: 442467 More actions · Answer 3

CirquedeSQLeil (3/19/2010)
GilaMonster (3/19/2010)
GSquared (3/19/2010)
Well, I get to tell stories about riding a horse home through the woods at 40 degrees below zero with enough wind-chill to make spit freeze before it could hit the ground, at night, in a blizzard. Unfortunately, it was only uphill one way, but it was after school, so that counts for something.
If I'm telling that one, and you're telling a story about, "I went outside and it was pleasantly warm", guess which one will get more attention in most audiences.
So what about the story of walking outside and the heat hitting like a hammer, sweat evaporating before it hit the ground? No need to start a fire to cook breakfast, a frying pan placed on the sidewalk got hot enough to fry eggs and bacon.
No, it doesn't get quite that hot here. 6 hours drive north (Messina), it does.
It does here. I moved from the snow and winter wonderland (miss the white stuff) to the desert. During the summer we can expect 115 - 120 during the day, and still 100 after dusk.

Now, when it is about 120, imagine being out on a turf field during a soccer toutnament. I haven't been there, but I have heard stories from referee's who have, they mention things like the tempature on the field being 10 to 20 degrees higher, heat exhaustion, and even needing to buy new shoes afterward due to the soles melting. Sounds like fun, doesn't it?

SQLRNNR SSC Guru Points: 281334 More actions · Answer 4

Lynn Pettis (3/19/2010)
Now, when it is about 120, imagine being out on a turf field during a soccer toutnament. I haven't been there, but I have heard stories from referee's who have, they mention things like the tempature on the field being 10 to 20 degrees higher, heat exhaustion, and even needing to buy new shoes afterward due to the soles melting. Sounds like fun, doesn't it?

I can vouch for the new shoes. Turf is definitely hotter (grass is cooler though). Asphalt is blistering hot. Of course - once it is hot, it all feels the same - IMO.

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

Paul White SSC Guru Points: 150468 More actions · Answer 5

Dave Ballantyne (3/19/2010)
Lynn Pettis (3/19/2010)
Anybody have some good links to why you should NOT use the NOLOCK hint? Seems everyone writing SELECT queries these days uses that everywhere.
I like this one..http://sqlblogcasts.com/blogs/tonyrogerson/archive/2006/11/10/1280.aspx10,000 rows which never has a count of 10,000

READ COMMITTED* and even REPEATABLE READ don't come with guarantees either:

http://blogs.msdn.com/craigfr/archive/2007/04/25/read-committed-isolation-level.aspx

http://sqlblog.com/blogs/alexander_kuznetsov/archive/2009/04/11/13217.aspx

* unless a row-versioning isolation level is in effect

Paul White
All articles available on SQL.kiwi
@SQL_Kiwi

Paul White SSC Guru Points: 150468 More actions · Answer 6

GilaMonster (3/19/2010)
Lynn Pettis (3/19/2010)
Anybody have some good links to why you should NOT use the NOLOCK hint? Seems everyone writing SELECT queries these days uses that everywhere.
This is the one I have in my ready-to-use snippets of text
http://sqlblog.com/blogs/andrew_kelly/archive/2009/04/10/how-dirty-are-your-reads.aspx

Not a huge fan of that one. The first two points are valid (dirty reads and 'unable to continue scan due to data movement' errors), but it suggests that skipped rows or double-reading is somehow peculiar to READ UNCOMMITTED. Not the case.

Paul White
All articles available on SQL.kiwi
@SQL_Kiwi

WayneS SSC Guru Points: 95461 More actions · Answer 7

GilaMonster (3/19/2010)
No, it doesn't get quite that hot here. 6 hours drive north (Messina), it does.

For those of us in the Northern Hemisphere, that just sounds so wrong!

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

Paul White SSC Guru Points: 150468 More actions · Answer 8

And, at the risk of going on about this, READ COMMITTED can increase CPU usage by 50% compared to READ UNCOMMITTED, see http://sqlblog.com/blogs/alexander_kuznetsov/archive/2008/07/12/cpu-overhead-for-higher-isolation-levels.aspx.

READ UNCOMMITTED gets a bad press. It is a valid isolation level, and the right choice for many applications.

Paul White
All articles available on SQL.kiwi
@SQL_Kiwi

SQLRNNR SSC Guru Points: 281334 More actions · Answer 9

Paul White NZ (3/19/2010)
And, at the risk of going on about this, READ COMMITTED can increase CPU usage by 50% compared to READ UNCOMMITTED, see http://sqlblog.com/blogs/alexander_kuznetsov/archive/2008/07/12/cpu-overhead-for-higher-isolation-levels.aspx.
READ UNCOMMITTED gets a bad press. It is a valid isolation level, and the right choice for many applications.

Thanks for another article to add to the repository.

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

Lynn Pettis SSC Guru Points: 442467 More actions · Answer 10

Paul White NZ (3/19/2010)
And, at the risk of going on about this, READ COMMITTED can increase CPU usage by 50% compared to READ UNCOMMITTED, see http://sqlblog.com/blogs/alexander_kuznetsov/archive/2008/07/12/cpu-overhead-for-higher-isolation-levels.aspx.
READ UNCOMMITTED gets a bad press. It is a valid isolation level, and the right choice for many applications.

Yes, READ UNCOMMITTED can be the right choice for many applications, the problem comes when it is selected and it isn't appropriate and people start complaining about inaccurate data. Which is what usually happens when people start adding the NOLOCK hint everywhere in their code without considering the impact it may have on the output generated and its purpose.

I have even seen it used in DELETE/UPDATE/INSERT statements where SQL at least ignores it.

Paul White SSC Guru Points: 150468 More actions · Answer 11

Lynn Pettis (3/20/2010)
Yes, READ UNCOMMITTED can be the right choice for many applications, the problem comes when it is selected and it isn't appropriate and people start complaining about inaccurate data. Which is what usually happens when people start adding the NOLOCK hint everywhere in their code without considering the impact it may have on the output generated and its purpose.

Yes, it needs to be used with great care. It just frustrates me when the argument swings too far the other way and using READ UNCOMMITTED becomes dogmatically evil and incorrect in all circumstances. I refuse to call it NOLOCK by the way - the name is the source of much misunderstanding, and is also far too easy to type 😉

I have even seen it used in DELETE/UPDATE/INSERT statements where SQL at least ignores it.

It is possible to construct a data modification statement such that the 'read cursor' side of the plan does not take shared locks. The 'write cursor' side will always take an exclusive lock on the selected rows, of course.

Paul White
All articles available on SQL.kiwi
@SQL_Kiwi

Gail Shaw SSC Guru Points: 1004504 More actions · Answer 12

Lynn Pettis (3/20/2010)
Yes, READ UNCOMMITTED can be the right choice for many applications, the problem comes when it is selected and it isn't appropriate and people start complaining about inaccurate data.

Or don't even realise there's a chance of inaccurate data and ignore user's reports of data problems as 'not reproducible'. Seen at least one case of that. The problem is that people don't realise that the isolation levels (ignoring the two snapshots for simplicity) are all a trade-off, consistency for concurrency, and think that nolock is a free lunch.

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

Paul White SSC Guru Points: 150468 More actions · Answer 13

...nolock is a free lunch.

Again, I blame the name.

All new DBAs 'know' that blocking and deadlocking are bad (:doze:). Blocks and deadlocks are caused by locks. Locks are bad. Use nolock to solve all problems!

Sigh. Make it READ UNCOMMITTED Microsoft! Ban NOLOCK now!!!

Paul White
All articles available on SQL.kiwi
@SQL_Kiwi

SQLRNNR SSC Guru Points: 281334 More actions · Answer 14

Paul White NZ (3/20/2010)
...nolock is a free lunch.
Again, I blame the name.
All new DBAs 'know' that blocking and deadlocking are bad (:doze:). Blocks and deadlocks are caused by locks. Locks are bad. Use nolock to solve all problems!
Sigh. Make it READ UNCOMMITTED Microsoft! Ban NOLOCK now!!!

Yes - anti nolock association league

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

Paul White SSC Guru Points: 150468 More actions · Answer 15

CirquedeSQLeil (3/20/2010)
Anti Nolock Association League

Highly amusing.

Paul White
All articles available on SQL.kiwi
@SQL_Kiwi