Find out about several bad things you may not even realize you're doing to dates and times in your own databases.

See why you shouldn't use alias types in SQL Server.

See why you should avoid some of the GUI elements in Management Studio.

Let's talk about a few of the ways people abuse and misuse DML triggers in SQL Server.

Read about some of the pitfalls of choosing the wrong data type in SQL Server.

In my last post in this series, I talked about inconsistent naming conventions.  This time I want to talk about a few of the assumptions people make when using IDENTITY columns, and what kind...

In my last post in this series, I talked about using the schema prefix, with particular focus on dbo-only systems.  In this post, I want to treat the use of inconsistent naming conventions. Stored...

In my last post in this series, I talked about inappropriately using SELECT, OUTPUT and RETURN in stored procedures.  Today I wanted to talk about using SELECT * or omitting the column list entirely....

See why your stored procedures should use OUTPUT and SELECT for data, and use RETURN only for error or status codes.

In my last post in this series, I talked about defining varchar columns, parameters, or variables without length.  Next I want to talk about using "bad" characters, like spaces or dashes, in entity names....

Find out why you should always specify lengths for declarations of variable types like varchar.

A little wisdom on using sensible and logical aliases for your tables, instead of a / b / c / d.

See a couple of reasons you should stop using old join syntax (FROM t1, t2).

See a few alternatives to expensive loops for populating sample or sequential data.

See why you should always use alias or column names in your ORDER BY clauses, rather than ordinal position.