SELECT INTO and non-nullable columns

Great blog post by Erik Darling on +Brent Ozar Unlimited about the uses of the SELECT INTO command and what you have to do in order to use it.

Questions About Pivoting Data in SQL Server You Were Too Shy to Ask

Of all the basic SQL operations, the pivot seems to cause the most problems. We can tell from the way that old articles on Simple-Talk on the topic continue to be read. It turns out that there are several questions that come to mind while learning about pivoting, but which are seldom asked on forums. Once more, Robert Sheldon attempts to answer these unspoken questions here.

T-SQL COALESCE Example

SQL Server T-SQL coalesce simplifies the use of a case statement to find the first non-null value of your expression.

Excellent short blog from Derek Wilson on +SQLServerCentral

SQL SERVER – What are Hypothetical Indexes?

If you ever thought this is some sort of trick to bring you to the blog, well you are wrong. This infact is something worth a look and interesting thing to know. Before I start to explain you the finer details, let me tell you that this is NOT a new feature for performance improvement of the SQL Server Engine.

Blog from +Pinal Dave

Find all triggers in a SQL Server Database

Do you know what triggers lurk in your database?

Triggers can be implemented to enforce business rules or referential data integrity in database applications.

There are even triggers that allow data modifications to multiple base tables of a view. I have actually used this in the past when working with 3rd party encryption tools prior to SQL 2005’s native encryption options.

Interesting blog from +SQLServerCentral

Questions about Primary and Foreign Keys You Were Too Shy to Ask

It is strange that one can ask simple questions about extended events or Hekaton at professional events and conferences without feeling embarrassed, yet nobody likes to ask vital questions about  SQL Server primary keys and foreign keys. Once more, Rob Sheldon is 'drawn to one side' to answer those questions about keys that one is too shy to ask on Simple Talk from +Red Gate Software
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Two simple commands that can be a big help in performance tuning

This blog from Kenneth Fisher on +SQLServerCentral looks at two commands that can make a difference to the performance of T-SQL.

The SQL of Membership: Equivalence Classes & Cliques

In this excellent article by Joe Celko on how to try and use SQL to do set theory.

I agree with him - it is clunky and awkward and far easier to do with a graph database.

Calculating and verifying check digits in T-SQL

In this insightful and detailed blog entry on +Simple-Talk by +Dwain Camps he goes through several examples of how to check the check digits on some popular values that use them and how to calculate them in T-SQL.

T-SQL- how to find who owns a temp table

In this article on the SQL Performance website Aaron Bertrand explains for several versions of SQL SERVER how to work out ownership of a temp table.

T-SQL - user defined functions - 10 questions you were too shy to ask

In this post on Simple Talk written by Robert Sheldon he goes through some simple solutions to those questions (with code examples) on user defined functions.

I particularly like that a non-deterministic function can be used in a function which I had never realised but makes sense when you think about it.