The Power of Data and Privacy
Steve discusses privacy and data that is publicly available on the Internet.
Two New Shortcuts for Fabric Lakehouse Developers: The Fabric Modern Data Platform
This next articles gives you a few quick ways to access data in remote storage.
Using REGEXP_COUNT to Count Strings in SQL Server 2025
We need to find out how many times certain strings appear in a column. We’ve used the LEN and REPLACE functions for years, but recently heard about REGEXP_COUNT and want to evaluate it, since we plan to upgrade to SQL Server 2025. How can we test this new feature?
GPX distance and time analysis in SQL Server
In this article we do a comparative analysis of the distance covered by two athletes during a race using the data of their GPX files.
The DBA is Dead; Long Live the DBA
There have many many times when a company or individual has thought that DBAs aren't needed. Steve doesn't think that has ever been true, nor will it be anytime soon.
Common Misconceptions About Microsoft Certification Exams
An experienced exam writer explains common misconceptions about Microsoft certification exams, question design, preparation, and real-world expectations.
Optimism Without Illusion or Why AI Needs Blunt Technologists
There is a temptation, especially in technology, to mistake momentum for maturity.
How Database Professionals Sent a Million Emails a Day from SQL Server
This is part of a look back at the history of SQL Server Central as a part of our 25-year celebration in Feb 2026. "They want how much?" That was a question I got from Andy one afternoon as we discussed how we were going to manage the growth of SQL Server Central. I had […]
How Filters and Sorting can Derail SQL Pagination Performance
In my previous tip, Pagination Performance in SQL Server, I showed how to make SQL pagination more predictable – turning O(n) into O(1). I materialized and cached row numbers to page through instead of calculating them on every request. It wasn’t the whole story, though; real pagination queries rarely get to sort without filtering. Users always want more control, and filtering can threaten that predictability.
Blogs
Rolling Back a Broken Release
By Steve Jones
We had an interesting discussion about deployments in databases and how you go forward...
A bespoke reporting solution doesn’t have to cost the earth
By ChrisJenkins
You could be tolerating limited reporting because there isn’t an off the shelf solution...
Presenting with Visual Studio Code
A while back I wrote a quick post on setting up key mappings in...
Forums
Remotely Engineer Fabric Lakehouse objects: The Fabric Modern Data Platform
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Remotely Engineer Fabric Lakehouse objects:...
Creating JSON III
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Creating JSON III
Testing is Becoming More Important
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Testing is Becoming More Important
Question of the Day
Creating JSON III
In a SQL Server 2025 table, called Beer, I have this data:
BeerIDBeerName 1Becks 2Fat Tire 3Mac n Jacks 4Alaskan Amber 8KirinI run this code:
SELECT JSON_OBJECTAGG(
BeerID: BeerName )
FROM beer;
What are the results? See possible answers