By an anonymous SQL user (a guest blogger)

1.  SQL is too complicated!

When I have multiple values in my columns, like "JAN,FEB,MAR" or “15,84,22” , SQL Server just doesn't get it.  It's almost impossible to write SQL statements on tables like that!  If I can manage to get any data out at all, it ends up being a 500 line SELECT statement!!  What is up with that?   And it also takes an act of God to successfully delete a value from those lists.  Why does MS make things so complicated?

2. Datatype conversions!

What is the deal with data types?  I just use VARCHAR for everything, since that's the only way to avoid stupid error messages when I add data to my tables.  Works great, until I want to get the month of a date or add two numbers – stupid SQL Server makes me convert() the value first.  How dumb is that?   SQL doesn't know how to add "12" and "5" – it thinks it's "125" !!!!  To make things even worse, SQL Server gives me errors half the time saying it CAN'T convert!  Uh, you are a computer; you should be able to figure this stuff out.

3.  Uh …. Formatting?

We've all been there:  You want to right-justify a column in your SELECT – it cannot be done without jumping through hoops!  Never mind centering, indenting, page numbers, or things like that.  Also, it is really a pain to format dates or round numbers just the way I want.  I can barely write a decent looking report using Query Analyzer, it looks like old MS-DOS text files!  Maybe it's time to move into the 21st century with some support for graphics, colors and fonts, huh Microsoft?

4. Sorting is broken!

Half the time my records come back OUT OF ORDER! That’s right, not sorted by anything!  It's a mess.  SQL Server should understand that things should be sorted by lastname/firstname or by date without me having to tell it!  This is supposed to be a smart computer, right?  My users really hate this, because it’s hard to find stuff on their reports.  When they complain, I just tell them, “Hey, maybe if you weren’t so cheap and we had Oracle we wouldn’t have to deal with this Microsoft ‘feature’! ”

To make things even worse, when I do try to sort, SQL Server thinks that “December” comes before “January”, or that “10” is less than “2”! Uh, Mr. Gates, no wonder you never release your products on schedule, you guys have no concept of how a calendar works!

5.  The IN() operator never works!

This one drives me nuts.  Using IN (@Var) never works right!  I never get back what I want, even though @Var clearly has a nice list of ID’s in it.  And you don't even get an error message!

6.  Foreign Keys Constraints !

For some reason, in SQL you can only update or add rows to 1 table at a time!  I can do my usual FULL OUTER JOINs with 800 tables together and go nuts with SELECTs all day long, but how about providing that feature for UPDATES and INSERTS!?  Otherwise, how can I have referential integrity?   If table A needs a matching row in table B, then how the heck do I get them in there at the exact same time?  This seems pretty silly to me. 

7.  Primary Keys don't work!

This drives me nuts.  I have an identity primary key called "ID" on every table, but I still get duplicate data!   I must have 20 different entries for Vermont in my “tblStatesTable” table!  What's the point of primary keys, then?   I hope the next service release fixes this.

8.  S-Q-L is S-L-O-W !!!

What is the deal with how slow SQL is?  For example, to find all of the data for January in my table, I use

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