About Jeremiah

I'm a senior database administrator with Cass Information Systems, a SQL Server MVP, director-at-large with PASS, and I also help out with my local chapter and the Application Development virtual chapter.

You can learn more about me or contact me directly.


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Rounding to the Nearest X Minutes, the Lazy Way

A lot of people use calendar tables. I’ve blogged about it before. They’re incredibly helpful. Now, have you ever needed a table of minutes?
You’re probably asking, “Jeremiah, why the heck would I ever need a table of minutes?” Well, dear reader, I’m going to tell you that. Please stop interrupting.
Let’s say you have a report. [...]

February 24th, 2010 | Tags: , , , | Category: Code, SQL, SQL Server, syndication | 6 comments

A Simple Refactoring - Functions in the WHERE Clause

Putting functions in the where clause of a SQL Statement can cause performance problems. If you aren’t careful, these problems can add up and bring a powerful production system to its knees.
For this example, I’m using the Northwind database, but you could do this on any database.
The first thing to do is put an index [...]

February 17th, 2010 | Tags: , , , | Category: SQL, SQL Server, syndication | 5 comments

A Simple Refactoring

Refactoring SQL code can be pretty easy. Just like refactoring any other programming language, sometimes you have to look around to find the culprit.
We have a slow running query that frequently times out when run by the users. A quick look at the query told me what was wrong. I found this clause in the [...]

February 11th, 2010 | Tags: , , , , | Category: SQL, SQL Server, syndication | One comment

When is a Lookup not a Lookup?

Execution plans are great things. They give us an insight into how SQL Server is putting together queries and why they run slowly.
One immediate thing I look for in an execution plan is a Key Lookup. In a Key Lookup operation, SQL Server has to reference the clustered index on the table because a value [...]

February 2nd, 2010 | Tags: , , , | Category: SQL, SQL Server, syndication | Leave a comment

Getting the ISO Week and Year

Long story short: I need the ISO Week. We need to be able to make sure that when we’re reporting, we’re pulling data for the full week (which happens to coincide with ISO Week at my employer).
The problem with using an existing function is that the existing functions just return the week and not the [...]

December 29th, 2009 | Tags: , , , , | Category: Code, SQL Server, syndication | Leave a comment
 
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