Jeff Smith Blog

Random Thoughts & Cartesian Products with Microsoft SQL Server

I'm back … with some news!

I apologize for not posting any new content in quite some time, but now I am back and will soon start posting on a (hopefully!) regular basis once again. The reason for my hiatus was a pretty good one, though: I recently became a father with the birth of my son Benjamin on October 2, 2008! Read more →

The Joy of Blog Feedback

Introduction I have been writing my little blog here for some time now, and my favorite part of doing this is of course the feedback. It's always great to hear from the readers, to have mistakes corrected, to debate various topics and techniques, and to learn a lot about SQL and the various topics I discuss here. Read more →

Log Buffer #98

Hello and welcome to the 98th edition of Log Buffer. My name is Jeff Smith and I will hosting this week's exciting episode. If, for some reason, you are not completely satisfied with this edition, simply write in and complain to Dave over at The Pythian Group and you will receive Log Buffer #99 absolutely free! Read more →

Need an Answer? Actually, No … You Need a Question

Welcome! The reason you were directed here is because you need assistance, and I am here to help. I am not, however, here to provide you with any answers! You see, it looks like the assistance you need is not finding an answer; it is rather that you need assistance finding a question. Read more →

You Know, There's a Much Easier Way…

Let's say you are struggling on a programming project. Your code is growing exponentially and becoming more convoluted by the day, and it is clearly out of control. You're getting run-time errors, compile-time errors, wrong output, no output, endless loops, your machine is overheating, and perhaps you are starting to feel like you might be a little over your head. Read more →

Is it a String Literal or an Alias?

Every now and then I see T-SQL code written like this: select somecolumn as 'columnname'from sometable Notice that 'columnname', despite its appearance, is not a string literal or a string expression, it is the alias that we are assigning to the column somecolumn. Read more →

Cross Join Updates!

A couple of quick blog updates for those that are interested: A Comment Milestone! Recently, I realized that I have received 1,000 comments since this little blog was started way back in September 2003. Read more →

Why do only the "Experts" use online help?

Studies have shown that the "F1" key is the least commonly pressed key on today's keyboards! Ok, well maybe not actual studies, but from my own experience, I am convinced that on many keyboards here around the world the F1 key still has that shiny "new key" look and smell because it's never been used. Read more →