May 9, 2008 at 9:04 am
Derek Karpinski (5/9/2008)
Favourite code comment I've encountered (at another place)// don't know why this works, it just does
lol I've been guilty of something like that. "--I don't know why this is giving me the top 10 diagnosis codes (what I was actually looking for) 32 times, but I'm just using Top 10 to return 10 rows, not 320"
---------------------------------------------------------
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."
May 9, 2008 at 9:07 am
Jack Corbett (5/9/2008)
For me, finding something to write about is the hardest thing. Most of what I do [is] fairly routine and anything really good I learned from something somebody else wrote.
As many have so eloquently stated, I too hated english in school. To be honest, I hated school. I took a beginning Visual Basic class years ago at the local community college and the "professor" said, "The only data types you need to know about are integer and string. You won't ever use the others." I asked the question, "How do you use numbers that require decimals." He didn't know the answer! I didn't go back!
Yes, Jack, it is difficult to find something of substance that hasn't already been addressed. It seems that the more I learn, the less I think I actually know! Time is also a hindrance. Between personnel, software, ongoing learning, and family, it seems there is so little time left to spend to organize your thoughts into a coherent essay. My thoughts come in spurts and I never seem to be able to compile all of the disparate musings into topics of related content.
I do want to express my gratitude to all of you, starting, of course, with Steve. SSC is a great resource for me. It is here that I can expand my knowledge, be comforted in knowing that I am not the only one dealing with '[fill in the blank]' , and be encouraged RBAR is 'verbotten'. So to all of you, Thanks!
Dan
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
"No question is so difficult to answer as that to which the answer is obvious." - George Bernard Shaw
May 9, 2008 at 9:12 am
You are welcome and let me tell you that I learn from many of you still. I appreciate you coming, more than just because it pays the bills. I enjoy being here as well.
If some of you aren't sure (Matt, ahem, cough cough) if you have something worth saying, feel free to send me a note to that effect. Send an email or put a para at the top of the article. I'll give you good feedback about what I think. I don't want you to regret publishing here and I push back quite often on articles to make them better.
We don't try to make it as hard as writing a book, and we want you to have your own voice, style, etc., but we also try to be sure that it's something you're proud of and won't get too many complaints over.
May 9, 2008 at 9:29 am
I, too, hated to write in high school. It took a hard-nosed college professor to teach me how to write and to get me to enjoy it. I will always be grateful to him.
I don't write much here, either, due to confidence or the lack thereof. I'm a developer and a halfway decent stored procedure writer, but I'm no DBA.
There are two things I like to write. I'm a musician, so I write songs. I don't write enough of them because I don't have time, but it really pleases me when I come up with something I like.
The other thing I like to write is user documentation. I believe that a product is only as good as its instructions. If the customer cannot figure out how to work the application, DVR, mixing board, or whatever, the thing is useless. I have a secret desire to rewrite all the instructions in the world because they are all so bad! :w00t: (OK, that's a little over the top.)
Anyway, I get a buzz from writing good and clear instructions for how to use an application. I write them so a monkey can follow them. More advanced people can skip what they don't need. No one has ever complained because instructions were too detailed.
I also have a blog, but only about 2 people read it 😉
May 9, 2008 at 9:41 am
Karl Heinz Brehme (5/8/2008)
I like to write, but I don´t write here because I don´t have free time... I work all the time that I´m not sleeping... Lot of projects and small budget, so I can´t contract anybody to help... I don´t have time to train new ones, lol.
One word: Ditto!
May 9, 2008 at 9:45 am
May 9, 2008 at 10:04 am
I enjoy writing and my managers have always complimented my ability to write to a technical and non-technical audience. However, like Lian indicated (comments on page 1), I don't feel my skills are up to par enough to write an article on this forum. I'm just a web developer who has had to be my own DBD for much of my career and picked up some great tricks from an awesome DBA as well as this site. However, even if I were a skilled DBA, I'd still fear an article of mine getting pummeled by people who are truly stellar in this field. I enjoy writing technical documentation for my systems and have actually considered pursuing that in my "later years" when I want to slow down a bit! 😀
May 9, 2008 at 10:05 am
I dont right bekause my speel cheker is brok.
May 9, 2008 at 10:16 am
Ha. "The spel cheker is brok..." Really though.
Writing is something that I find others are able to do better than I. I am always ready and willing to talk about something I'm doing with work but are people really that interested that they will read it? I guess the challenge really is, as said before, finding something that hasn't been said before and finding the audience to consume my ideas, provide feedback (constructively) and generally complain that what I wrote was recently written by some guy in Australia with the last name of Performance (it is best to read about in fighting from a distance). There are others who may have questions and if I can help I do. To write is for those who are savvy enough (Steve) to make a living out of correctly describing something creatively enough that the masses will a) pick up on it, b) forward it on to the rest of the masses, and/or c) pay you for it. I contribute to the net when the net calls and I can answer.
May 9, 2008 at 11:20 am
In re: to the two most common "excuses" not to write:
1) "I am not a good writer," and
2) "I don't have anything original."
Firstly, we IT people don't get paid to write. We get paid to solve. Therefore, no one really expects us to be very good. We just need to be good enough to get the solution across, which we normally do via code anyway!
Secondly, how many songs do you think have been written about love? How many cops-and-robber movies? Variations on Hamlet? Poems about cats? Only once in a lifetime might a person come up with something truly new. And only maybe. But that doesn't stop forward progress.
My point is, we all do the same things. But we experience them differently. Experience and perspective are the only real ingredients of originality.
We want YOUR (yes, you in the swivel chair that is bad for your back) experience and YOUR perspective!
---------------------------
|Ted Pin >>
May 9, 2008 at 11:23 am
I don't write due to my extream ignorance. I don't know enoough to ask you fine folks a good question! When I do you'll be getting them! 😛
May 9, 2008 at 11:34 am
It is easy to blame my lack of writing on not having time or more to the point, not making the time to write. But then I wouldn't be answering truthfully, I would just be giving a socially acceptable response so I don't have to put myself out there and be vulnerable.
With that said, I don't write because I suffer from little-ol-meism. I allow my F.E.A.R. (False Evidence Appearing Real) of looking like an arse, in a community of peers, from sharing my thoughts. I am a newbie so I'm more of a student than a teacher at this point, but I might have some fresh perspective on certain topics. You may never read them because my confidence would keep me from making the post. Even now as I'm typing a response to this week's poll, I'm thinking of abandoning the post. I'm not going to though because I'm using this opportunity for growth.
SQLServerCentral.com is successful because of member participation and I'm challenging myself to be more proactive in my participation, first for myself and second for a community that is a major part of my career development. I know some of you share my thoughts and I encourage you to put yourself out there and do the same.
May 9, 2008 at 11:40 am
A while back, I decided to try writing a blog posting every week. It wasn't for a SQL Server site, but for an unrelated interest. Heaven only knows how Steve manages to write a newsletter editorial every day, but this is the technique I used for the easier regime of a weekly blog..
I took a notebook with me everywhere and immediately noted down every idea that came to me. I began to seek out ideas and spot them where I normally didn't bother. It was strange how it soon changed my attitude. When I hit a misfortune, instead of moping, I felt pleased at the thought that I could relate the experience in my blog. When bored, out came the notebook. I found myself reading more, and passively watching telly not at all. I gradually worked all the ideas out, more in parallel than in series, using a very simple framework for turning ideas into articles, until a blog was good enough to be posted, gradually building up a stockpile, and snatching odd half-hours here and there to do the work. Suddenly journeys, waits, and queues were fun, as I could spend the time writing.
To cut a long story short, once I got into the swing of it and the brain had adjusted, it became easy to do, and didn't cut into my working day. I still blog there, but less frequently, but as a direct consequence of the Blog, I've appeared on national television in the UK five times. The Blog gets read a lot more than my SQL Server stuff!
I just approached the whole thing methodically just like learning SMS, C#, or SSIS. I got hold of a brilliant manual on how to write, and worked at it doggedly until it looked good and people read it. Anyone can do it as long as they have the interesting ideas, and SSC is the perfect place to develop the craft. Steve will help!
Best wishes,
Phil Factor
May 9, 2008 at 11:45 am
Phil Factor (5/9/2008)
A while back, I decided to try writing a blog posting every week. It wasn't for a SQL Server site, but for an unrelated interest. Heaven only knows how Steve manages to write a newsletter editorial every day, but this is the technique I used for the easier regime of a weekly blog..I took a notebook with me everywhere and immediately noted down every idea that came to me. I began to seek out ideas and spot them where I normally didn't bother. It was strange how it soon changed my attitude. When I hit a misfortune, instead of moping, I felt pleased at the thought that I could relate the experience in my blog. When bored, out came the notebook. I found myself reading more, and passively watching telly not at all. I gradually worked all the ideas out, more in parallel than in series, using a very simple framework for turning ideas into articles, until a blog was good enough to be posted, gradually building up a stockpile, and snatching odd half-hours here and there to do the work. Suddenly journeys, waits, and queues were fun, as I could spend the time writing.
To cut a long story short, once I got into the swing of it and the brain had adjusted, it became easy to do, and didn't cut into my working day. I still blog there, but less frequently, but as a direct consequence of the Blog, I've appeared on national television in the UK five times. The Blog gets read a lot more than my SQL Server stuff!
I just approached the whole thing methodically just like learning SMS, C#, or SSIS. I got hold of a brilliant manual on how to write, and worked at it doggedly until it looked good and people read it. Anyone can do it as long as they have the interesting ideas, and SSC is the perfect place to develop the craft. Steve will help!
Heady comments from one who managed to destabilize a small South American country with a copy-protection scheme...:) There might still be hope for some of us yet...:)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Your lack of planning does not constitute an emergency on my part...unless you're my manager...or a director and above...or a really loud-spoken end-user..All right - what was my emergency again?
May 9, 2008 at 11:59 am
I thought I will write... I thought I will write ........... 🙂
But who will give me time ........... 🙂
Still I thought I will write .................. :w00t:
Then I started to write .............. :Whistling:
Then ...............
I could match the quality of authors like Jeff, Jacob, Steve and many more....... 😉
So I DROP THAT IDEA.......................... :hehe:
Again read from line 1. (Endless loop) :w00t::P:):hehe::cool:
Viewing 15 posts - 46 through 60 (of 89 total)
You must be logged in to reply to this topic. Login to reply