SQL Screw-ups

I talked about SQL Screw-ups at the 03/14/2019 Nashville .NET User Group meeting. I really appreciate everyone who attended, and I hope you got something out of it. I’ll do a deep dive into each topic from the talk as a series of detailed posts so you can work through each screw-up on your own. I’ll also include feedback and tips I received during and after the talk.

Side note about the talk: It was a very rewarding experience and honestly an honor to speak at the user group meeting. The user group leadership does a great job, the sponsor is amazing, and the attendees are the absolute best. I learned how much I enjoy speaking to an engaged audience, and I learned a few things about SQL from the attendees, too!

This was a code demo talk, so the slides alone are not very beneficial. This post includes the the slides and setup details. I’ll post one deep dive per week, so subscribe to email updates if you are looking for more information on one of the screw-ups I talked about (you can always unsubscribe once you’ve been notified of the post).

Slides

Setup

You’ll need Microsoft SQL Server and the AdventureWorks sample database to follow along.

Download and install SQL Server Express
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/sql-server/sql-server-downloads

Download a sample database
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/samples/adventureworks-install-configure?view=sql-server-2017

Restore the database and generate sample data
https://elanderson.net/2018/09/getting-a-sample-sql-server-database/

For this demo:

  • SQL Server Express 2014
  • AdventureWorks2014 OLTP Database

We’ll work mostly in the Sales schema of the sample database, so take a moment to review the Sales tables. Check back next week for tips on scalar-valued functions using the sample data we loaded.