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Day: November 12, 2021

When to Start Using a Database with R or Python

Published 2021-11-12 by Kevin Feasel

Roel Hogervorst thinks about data sizes in R and Python:

Your dataset becomes so big and unwieldy that operations take a long time. How long is too long? That depends on you, I get annoyed if I don’ t get feedback within 20 seconds (and I love it when a program shows me a progress bar at that point, at least I know how long it will take!), your boundary may lay at some other point. When you reach that point of annoyance or point of no longer being able to do your work. You should improve your workflow.

I will show you how to do some speedups by using other R packages, in python moving from pandas to polars, or leveraging databases. I see some hesitancy about moving to a database for analytical work, and that is too bad. Bad for two reasons, one: it is super simple, two it will save you a lot of time.

I definitely agree with Roel’s bottom line here. Granted, part of that is domain knowledge, but databases are extremely good at handling data and both languages have plenty of database accessibility.

One last tip, though: if you’re on the data science or data analytics track, learn SQL. Yes, libraries like dbplyr in R or ORMs in Python can cover up a lot, but that comes at a cost, typically in terms of performance. Building these skills will make your life considerably easier.

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SQL Saturday Orlando Notes

Published 2021-11-12 by Kevin Feasel

Andy Warren reflects on hosting the only in-person SQL Saturday in the United States this year:

We held an in-person SQLSaturday here in Orlando last weekend (Oct 30th). We didn’t organize one last year, there was just too much risk and too much uncertainty, so it felt good to return to something close to normal this year, even in scaled back fashion. I’ve got a lot of notes to share about how we ran the event this year!

The journey started at the end of 2020. We wrote up our plan for 2021 knowing there were a lot of unknowns, but hoping things would improve enough to resume doing the things we used to do as a local group and that included organizing a SQLSaturday. As this year has progressed attendance at our virtual meetings dropped, as did our enthusiasm for having them. Enthusiasm matters a lot when it comes to volunteer work and while I know many of you like the virtual format, it’s just not what I want to do. That narrowed the option list to having an in-person SQLSaturday or not doing one at all, not a great range of choices.

Read on for a lot of details. I appreciate how transparent Andy has always been with respect to running events like this and if you’re thinking about a SQL Saturday in 2022, definitely read Andy’s post.

Also, the event was small, but it was really nice to get to see people I hadn’t seen in years, so thank you, Andy, for putting on the show.

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Updates to Azure Synapse Link

Published 2021-11-12 by Kevin Feasel

Aria Jelinek outlines the value of Azure Synapse Link:

New as of Ignite 2021, customers can optimize queries by setting custom partitions for their Azure Cosmos DB analytical store using keys that are commonly used as query filters. This compacts and optimizes the analytical data written to the partitioned store, resulting in better query performance even when working with a high volume of update or delete operations.

Azure Synapse Link is also now available for Azure Cosmos DB serverless accounts, expanding the integration to cover data from workloads with bursts of traffic or uncertain traffic patterns.

This post mostly covers the Dataverse and Cosmos DB integrations rather than the integration with SQL Server 2022.

One the whole, I like Azure Synapse Link for Cosmos DB and will probably like it for SQL Server 2022—maybe even a bit more. It does simplify the ELT process by taking care of the E and handling the first half of the L (landing into a staging table). Though if data’s going into a dedicated SQL pool, I do hope the people doing this understand that dedicated SQL pools are intended for Kimball-style data warehousing scenarios and there can be a considerable performance (and therefore price) hit if you simply replicate a bunch of stuff without subsequent transformation.

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Optimization Tips with Inline Table-Valued Functions

Published 2021-11-12 by Kevin Feasel

Itzik Ben-Gan continues a series on table expressions:

This is the thirteenth and last installment in a series about table expressions. This month I continue the discussion I started last month about inline table-valued functions (iTVFs).

Last month I explained that when SQL Server inlines iTVFs that are queried with constants as inputs, it applies parameter embedding optimization by default. Parameter embedding means that SQL Server replaces parameter references in the query with the literal constant values from the current execution, and then the code with the constants gets optimized. This process enables simplifications that can result in more optimal query plans. This month I elaborate on the topic, covering specific cases for such simplifications such as constant folding and dynamic filtering and ordering. If you need a refresher on parameter embedding optimization, go over last month’s article as well as Paul White’s excellent article Parameter Sniffing, Embedding, and the RECOMPILE Options.

This was a really good series. If you haven’t seen the entries, set aside some time and check it out.

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Version 12 of sp_WhoIsActive

Published 2021-11-12 by Kevin Feasel

Erik Darling answers the long-standing question “Who is active?” with “You is active!”:

– New parameter, @get_memory_info, that exposes memory grant information, both in two top-level scalar columns and a new XML-based memory_info column.

– Better handling of the newer CX* parallelism wait types that have been added post-2016

– A top-level implicit_transaction identifier, available in @get_transaction_info = 1 mode

– Added context_info and original_login_name to additional_info collection

– A number of small bug fixes

– Transition code to use spaces rather than tabs

Spaces rather than tabs? SQL should have tabs! But functional programming languages are great and they use spaces! I’m so conflicted!

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SQL Server 2022 and Big Releases

Published 2021-11-12 by Kevin Feasel

Brent Ozar opines on an interesting topic:

The question, posed by Brent’s Tasty Beverage (nicely done) was:

My friends feel announcement from MS regarding SQL22 were only relatively small changes (since we didn’t see too much of multiple plans technically or demo), nothing groundbreaking or revolutionary. What are your thoughts?

Read on for Brent’s thoughts. I’ll say that I’m still expecting a few smaller surprises to come in as we get closer to CTPs.

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