Category: Learning

Brendan Tierney checks the lists:

Each January I take a little time to look back on the Database market over the previous calendar year. This year I’ll have a look at 2023 (obviously!) and how things have changed and evolved.

In my post from last year (click here) I mentioned the behaviour of some vendors and how they like to be-little other vendors. That kind of behaviour is not really acceptable, but they kept on doing it during 2023 up to a point. That point occurred during the Autumn of 2023. It was during this period there was some degree of consolidation in the IT industry with staff reductions through redundancies, contracts not being renewed, and so on. These changes seemed to have an impact on the messages these companies were putting out and everything seemed to calm down. These staff reductions have continued into 2024.

Click through for Brendan’s thoughts on the new SQL:2023 standard and common estimations of data platform product utilization. I’ve historically focused on DB-Engines rather than TOPDB, but they’re both pointing in similar directions at the top.

Chad Callihan resolves to write better code:

I’ve been involved with more official development work on top of database responsibilities in the last few months, which led to the recommendation to read Clean Code by Robert C. Martin. It’s an older book published in 2011, but plenty of rules and guidelines still apply. Along with the more technical details, one area jumped out at me in Chapter 12 that can apply to anyone writing code, queries, or scripts:

Click through for a pair of salient quotations and some more thoughts from Chad.

Thomas Rushton gives Ask SQLServerCentral a Viking funeral:

When I started out as a full-time DBA back in 2010, it was the first Q&A site I found that was active, friendly, and easy to use.

It differs from the main SQLServerCentral Q&A boards by not being broken down into questions relating to a particular version of SQL Server, and a particular aspect of that version. This makes it easier for someone to just ask a question without worrying about if their question is going to the right place. A great benefit to those new to the scene.

Right around the time Thomas started, I was also getting into it and was active for a couple of years until a job change made it tougher for me to dedicate the time. I appreciate everything the crew did for so long, especially because it was a really good alternative to a dedicated Stack Exchange site for databases (which I think had officially started after Ask SQLServerCentral).

Brian Kelley offers some advice:

This is not a “clickbait” title, but an important consideration when it comes to developing technical solutions. Let me give you an example between two questions for SQL Server on-premises running on Windows.

Question 1: Does SQL Server allow you to set things like password complexity, password length, and the number of failed login attempts before the account is locked?

Question 2: Does SQL Server support things like password complexity, password length, and locking the account after a number of failed login attempts?

Betteridge’s Law of Headlines also applies to Brian’s post.

It’s so easy to get locked into answering the question without that additional context, and it’s also hard to tell if a person is asking question 1 because they don’t know the answer in general, or if they’re asking because they know you can do it in Windows but aren’t sure if there is a separate mechanism for SQL Server.

Kevin Hill wants to know your thoughts:

What are you most concerned about in your database platforms?

Please pick from the list below, and expand on your choice in the comments if you like:

It’s an easy, one-question survey, so please do Kevin a favor and click some checkboxes and a single button after thinking about it for upwards of dozens of seconds.

Kimberly Tripp has an announcement:

So… that’s why I’m writing today. This year’s PASS Data Community Summit will be my last public SQL Server training event. I have a precon workshop, a session, and I’ll also be introducing the Community Keynote and passing the proverbial torch. I hope to see you there!

Read on for several stories and what Kimberly’s going to be doing instead.