This week's post has to do with handling dates in files. One of the data sets I use in demos for PolyBase Revealed is an open data set of Raleigh, North Carolina police incidents. This data set is nice because it's enough rows not to be a trivial example, but still small enough that people…
Southern Fried F# Call For Speakers Closes Soon
If you are interested in submitting to Southern Fried F#, the call for speakers closes this Friday, February 15th. Submit your proposal for an F#-related talk soon! Even if you aren't interested in speaking, tickets are available. This is a free conference which will take place on Saturday, April 13th in downtown Raleigh, North Carolina.…
The Value of Calendar Tables, Part 2: Simplify Queries
In the last post, I showed how to create a calendar table. In this post, we'll look at a few places where calendar tables can simplify your queries significantly. Finding Valid Dates First up, let's do a little bit of SQL Saturday Raleigh prep (notice how I slid that advertisement in so subtly?). We normally…
A Visit To China
As this post goes live, I will be in China. I have some blog posts scheduled so there should be some content coming up. Depending on whether I can get access while out there, I might throw in an update too. In the meantime, you can constantly hit F5 while looking at my Instagram feed…
The Value Of Calendar Tables, Part 1: Build A Table
Calendar tables (AKA date dimensions) are a fundamental component of any data warehouse, but these tables are also quite useful for OLTP systems. In this two-part series, we will look first at how to build a calendar table and then, in the second part of the series, we will see some reasons why you might…
PolyBase Revealed: Want To Help?
This week's PolyBase Revealed post is a request. Have you used PolyBase in production? Alternatively, have you tried to implement PolyBase but ended up having to back off for some reason? If so, I'd be interested in your thoughts. One of the things I want to do is cover as many weird scenarios as I…
Upcoming Events: SQL Saturday Redmond
Full-Day Training Alert I am presenting a full-day training on R entitled Enter the Tidyverse: R for the Data Professional on Friday, February 8th. Registration is still open for just a little bit longer, so sign up if you haven't already. Key Details What: SQL Saturday RedmondWhere: Microsoft Building 92, Redmond, WashingtonWhen: Saturday, February 9th,…
Metrics For Free: SQL Server Monitoring With Telegraf
Not too long ago, I had the opportunity to put into place a free solution for monitoring SQL Server instances. I saw Tracy's series on collecting performance metrics InfluxDB + Telegraf + Grafana, and then I saw her talk on the topic (Collecting Performance Metrics), but until I implemented it myself, I couldn't believe how…
Getting Things Done Using Calendar Entries
I've been using a technique lately to try to get more stuff done. I wanted to share this technique in the hopes that it might help somebody else. Ennui and the Overabundance of Things to Do I tend to be a list-maker. On each of my computers I have a list of things to do,…
36 Chambers - The Legendary Journeys: Execution to the max! 