Representative Data Challenges
We need data that represents the problem we want to solve, or we might not achieve our aims.
SQL Server 2025 Standard Developer Edition
Learn about the new Standard Developer Edition of SQL Server 2025.
Find Missing SQL Server Data with NOT EXISTS
After years of writing T-SQL a certain way, changing can be tough. When comparing tables for missing rows, developers often use LEFT JOIN.
No Defaults Passwords Ever
Steve doesn't see a reason why we should have default passwords on systems ever.
Eight Minutes
When I was at the Small Data 2025 conference, one of the speakers was talking about their work with AI technologies. This person uses it a lot in their day job, often to complete tasks that they would have struggled to work on in the past, mostly because of time constraints, but also a lack […]
JSON Has a Cost
JSON has become a very popular data format used in many software applications. However, it's not magic.
T-SQL in SQL Server 2025: Fuzzy String Search I
Comparing strings has always been hard when we don't have great data quality. If we need exact matches, SQL Server works great. However, we often expect users to enter values without typos and know what values they want to find. Or at least know part of the string. However, matching with wildcards or partial strings […]
SQL Server Privilege Escalation via Replication Jobs
Learn how attackers can exploit SQL Server replication cleanup jobs to escalate privileges from db_owner to sysadmin
Faster Data Engineering with Python Notebooks: The Fabric Modern Data Platform
In this next article on the Fabric Modern Data Platform, we use the Polars library in Python to improve our data engineering.
Power BI – Download, Install and Create Your First Report
Power BI Desktop is Microsoft’s platform for analytics and visualization. The product has been around for over ten years, making it a mature feature-rich choice for business intelligence reporting and actionable insights. How do you get started downloading, installing, and configuring Power BI desktop?
Blogs
Stupid Things I Did With AI: ASCII Art
By Steve Jones
I ran across this article recently (https://www.gatesnotes.com/meet-bill/source-code/reader/microsoft-original-source-code) and it has a great opening piece...
Simple Talks Podcasting in 2026
By Steve Jones
I’m in the UK today, having arrived this morning in London. Hopefully, by this...
SSMS 22 still inserting tabs instead of spaces
I’m not trying to start up a debate whether you should use tabs or...
Forums
Cumulative Update 23 - KB5074819 - Database Mail - No longer working.
Hi there, Has anyone else had any trouble with Database Mail in Cumulative Update...
Script Task execution error with HTTP request
I have a script task that tries to execute a HTTP request, which seems...
SQL Server 2025 Standard Developer Edition
Comments posted to this topic are about the item SQL Server 2025 Standard Developer...
Question of the Day
URL Safe or Not?
If I use BASE4_ENCODE() in SQL Server 2025, is the output URL Safe by default?
See possible answers