October 6, 2010 at 11:06 am
Great question! Learned something new again!
October 6, 2010 at 2:47 pm
Nice!
The Redneck DBA
October 6, 2010 at 4:22 pm
Good question.
Tom
October 8, 2010 at 2:33 am
Good question. I almost missed it because I didn't notice it was loading a table variable at first. I was saved because I remember the previous question that seemed exactly the same and almost answered the same way. I knew there must have been some difference so I looked closer at the query and then noticed it wasn't an actual table but a table variable instead. Whew! Close call on that one.
Lesson learned: Pay close attention to the details.
October 8, 2010 at 3:20 am
Didn't notice it was a table variable! Gah! 🙂
-------------------------------Oh no!
October 8, 2010 at 5:36 am
Kevin Gill (10/8/2010)
Didn't notice it was a table variable! Gah! 🙂
Me too. That'll teach us to read more carefully!
Tom
October 8, 2010 at 9:42 am
Kevin Gill (10/8/2010)
Didn't notice it was a table variable! Gah! 🙂
I almost didn't notice, and was think this is exactly the same as the question from a few days ago... So I brought up the old question and compared, and then the light went off and I knew how to answer it. 🙂
October 8, 2010 at 10:16 am
UMG Developer (10/8/2010)
I almost didn't notice, and was think this is exactly the same as the question from a few days ago...
I only tend to log on and answer a batch once every couple of weeks or so these days, and I end up doing them in reverse order! I got the other one right though 🙂
-------------------------------Oh no!
October 11, 2010 at 2:45 am
Well it looks like i'm going to be in the minority by saying i think it was a poor question. I got it wrong because I was expecting, funny enough, a question on identity. The fact that the word identity doesn't appear anywhere in the explanation of the answer backs my opinion up that this was a sort of trick question. I have no problem with testing on the differences between temp tables and table variables and indeed, if the question had said it was related to that i would have got it right.
Sour grapes maybe, but I think questions should be about testing someone's knowledge, not their powers of observation.
Paul
October 11, 2010 at 3:03 am
paul.goldstraw (10/11/2010)
Well it looks like i'm going to be in the minority by saying i think it was a poor question. I got it wrong because I was expecting, funny enough, a question on identity.
The fact that the titel of the question isn't highly correlated with the question itself, doesn't make it a poor question. I think that this question has alerted many people of the fact that they should be careful with table variables and transactions, thus making it a valuable question (but nothing to do with Identity, true true).
paul.goldstraw (10/11/2010)
Sour grapes maybe, but I think questions should be about testing someone's knowledge, not their powers of observation.
Well, the knowledge tested was table variables vs transactions. It is not really a tricky question because it is not just the @ sign that can tell you it is a table variable, but also the fact that a declare statement is used instead of a create table statement. Someone's observation skills must not be that strong (or reading the question with not enough attention) to miss that.
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October 11, 2010 at 3:16 am
da-zero (10/11/2010)
paul.goldstraw (10/11/2010)
Well it looks like i'm going to be in the minority by saying i think it was a poor question. I got it wrong because I was expecting, funny enough, a question on identity.The fact that the titel of the question isn't highly correlated with the question itself, doesn't make it a poor question. I think that this question has alerted many people of the fact that they should be careful with table variables and transactions, thus making it a valuable question (but nothing to do with Identity, true true).
paul.goldstraw (10/11/2010)
Sour grapes maybe, but I think questions should be about testing someone's knowledge, not their powers of observation.Well, the knowledge tested was table variables vs transactions. It is not really a tricky question because it is not just the @ sign that can tell you it is a table variable, but also the fact that a declare statement is used instead of a create table statement. Someone's observation skills must not be that strong (or reading the question with not enough attention) to miss that.
No, my observation skills aren't brilliant at 9am on a Monday, but I simply think they shouldn't have to be. Topics have titles and tags describing what they are testing for a reason. This question doesn't test anything at all to do with identities. It's not that it's more about table variables and transactions than identities, it's all about them. That is the reason why I believe it to be a poor question, not because of the question itself but because in the structure it is set it, I don't think it is unreasonable to expect the topic to bear some relation to the question, which this does not.
Just my opinion. Just a shame that the lesson I learned from this was not re. temp tables and table variables but to check whether the question even relates to the topic.
October 18, 2010 at 3:17 am
thanks for the good question
October 27, 2010 at 3:08 pm
Great question, thank you!
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