Out with the old, in with the new

Two months ago, I asked a question: Which execution plan icons are relevant today? In that post, I talked about the operator icons shown in the SQL Server Execution Plan Reference. I explained my reasons to choose the four sets of icons displayed (SSMS 17.4 and up, SSMS up to 17.3; Azure Data Studio; and Plan Explorer). And I then also explained why I believe those choices should be reconsidered, and outlined my own thinking in this area. The short version of my ideas is that I would keep the icons for SSMS 17.4 and up but rename that column…
Read More

Donor lymphocyte infusion

(Warning: This blog post is non-technical but purely personal. I write openly about my current health issues. This blog might be triggering for people who struggle with, or lost dear ones to, cancer and other similar diseases.) This is the twelfth post in a series on my personal road from first signs of leukemia, through diagnosis and treatment, to, hopefully, full recovery. Click here to read all posts in this series. Doing fine I have not written any updates in a long time. The reason is simple. There simply was nothing to report. I go out to do my (almost)…
Read More

New videos ready!

It has taken a long time. Partly due to my health, but definitely also to a good extent as a result of my perfectionism. But I can now finally declare that the next set of videos for the Execution Plan Video Training is ready, and pre-order sales have opened, with an insane discount for early deciders! Joins (and more) The focus of block 3 of the SQLServerFast Execution Plan Video Training is on everything related to combining data from multiple sources. Most of the time, data is combined by using one of the four join operators, so they get the…
Read More

Plansplaining, part 20. SQL Graph (part 1)

Welcome to part twenty of the plansplaining series. It has been a long time since I last wrote a plansplaining post, partly because of my health, but also for a large part because I was out of ideas. But recently I decided to dig a bit deeper into a feature that was released in SQL Server 2017 and that I had so far not played with: SQL Graph. SQL Graph is the name for a set of features, introduced in SQL Server 2017 and extended in SQL Server 2019, that bring graph database functionality into SQL Server. See here for…
Read More

New trailers and an updated chapter

Today I am announcing some updates to the free content that is part of the SQLServerFast Execution Plan Video Training. The first announcement is the release of a new set of trailers, to replace the old trailer that was the same for each block and each level. The second announcement is the update of one of the chapters in the free basic level of block 1. Trailers When I started my work on the execution plan video training, I realized I needed a platform that could host my videos, but that could also handle sales for me, and ensure that…
Read More

T-SQL Tuesday 162 – Execution plans according to ChatGPT

I have skipped a lot of T-SQL Tuesdays, because either I did not have the time to write anything, or I felt I had nothing useful to write. That changes with edition #162, hosted by Tomaz Kastrun (b|t). He invites us to talk about data science in the time of ChatGPT. To be fair, I am not going to cover that literal topic. But rather, I used his invitation as an excuse to do something that I have been wanting to do, and yet postponing, for a few months already. And that is to try to assess whether ChatGPT can…
Read More

Which execution plan icons are relevant today?

Back in 2018, when I started working on the SQL Server Execution Plan Reference, I spent quite some time thinking about what icons to show for all operators. I chose at that time to include four sets of icons: the version of the icons in the then current version of SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS); the version that was used in SSMS before the complete art rework in SSMS 17.4; the version that was at that time used in the execution plan viewer of Azure Data Studio (ADS); and the version used in SQL Sentry’s free tool, Plan Explorer. This…
Read More

Back home, but still a long way to go

(Warning: This blog post is non-technical but purely personal. I write openly about my current health issues. This blog might be triggering for people who struggle with, or lost dear ones to, cancer and other similar diseases.) This is the eleventh post in a series on my personal road from first signs of leukemia, through diagnosis and treatment, to, hopefully, full recovery. Click here to read all posts in this series. Back home I’m writing this on April 5th. A long time since my previous health update. Most of that time was spent in the hospital, bur I was discharged…
Read More

Relational database design

Over nine years ago, early 2014, I published a video course on Pluralsight. The subject: relational database design. My expectation back then was that there would be some interest in this topic, but not really much. Success story I was wrong. The number of viewers was high right from the start, and has continued to be high all through the years. This course attracted an average of almost 6,000 viewers per year, with almost 15,000 hours per year of view time. Those numbers far exceeded any expectation I had ever had. And what’s more, the numbers are not declining ……
Read More

The final lap

8 Comments
(Warning: This blog post is non-technical but purely personal. I write openly about my current health issues. This blog might be triggering for people who struggle with, or lost dear ones to, cancer and other similar diseases.) This is the tenth post in a series on my personal road from first signs of leukemia, through diagnosis and treatment, to, hopefully, full recovery. Click here to read all posts in this series. Back in the hospital It’s February 10. And I am back in the hospital. Finally. First planned for December 2. Then postponed to January 19, in order to remove…
Read More

By continuing to use the site, you agree to the use of cookies. more information

The cookie settings on this website are set to "allow cookies" to give you the best browsing experience possible. If you continue to use this website without changing your cookie settings or you click "Accept" below then you are consenting to this.

Close