Whether you’re just getting in to programming or you’ve avoided learning SQL, it’s something every developer faces eventually. You may not be responsible for building and maintaining a database, but ...

With JSON now the default format for moving data between clients and servers, SQL Server adds JSON support to make it easier to get your data out of the database and down to the client. SQL Server ...

A common SQL habit is to use SELECT * on a query, because it’s tedious to list all the columns you need. Plus, sometimes those columns may change over time, so why not just do things the easy way? But ...

Everyone wants faster database queries, and both SQL developers and DBAs can turn to many time-tested methods to achieve that goal. Unfortunately, no single method is foolproof or ironclad. But even ...

Dynamic SQL lets you create a query string based off of user input. SQL Server allows you to create dynamic SQL statements. The statements use a SQL string varchar data type, then you execute the ...

Part of the problem is that there is no magic bullet, and for almost every best practice, I can show you at least one exception. Typically, a developer finds his or her own favorite methods — though ...

Microsoft has just added support for query hints to Azure SQL Database, giving database administrators a powerful tool to manage the performance of ISV application code. Here's how it works. Database ...

The structured query language is a powerful tool for connecting to many database systems that store data in tables organized into rows and columns. It's often used on the backend of business websites ...