Aaron Bertrand shows us how to find hidden features in CTPs:
In honesty, I’m just meticulous about installing each new build and immediately digging into the metadata. It would be hard to take a look at
sys.all_objectsand identify what’s new by sight; even columns likecreate_dateandmodify_dateare not as accurate as you might expect. (For example, in CTP 3.1,sp_helpindexhas acreate_dateof 2015-11-21 18:03:15.267.)So instead of relying on photographic memory or hoping that something new will jump out at me while scanning the new catalog, I always install the new CTP side-by-side with the previous CTP (or, in the case of the very first CTP, side-by-side with the previous version). Then I can just perform various types of anti-semi-joins across a linked server to see objects and columns that have been added, removed, or changed.
Very interesting.