Evan Smith

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Getting Started with Python

I’m honored to be presenting at PyTennessee this Saturday! I’ve thoughtfully crafted an hour-long workshop to help folks get into programming with Python.

The phrase get into programming with Python is intentionally ambiguous. My workshop is for people who want to get into programming and we’ll be doing so with Python. My workshop is also for people who are already into programming but want to do so with Python.

March 7, 2020 will be my first Python talk. Out of necessity, it will also largely be a live coding demo – also a first for me. So, let’s see what we’ll need to do before you walk into the session.

Time For A Reset

Sometimes you just need a break … a reset, if you will. I took the month of May for myself and for my family. I would list all the things that normally happen in my house and which ones ceased as of May 1, but you don’t *really* care. Just think about all the hectic things in your life and imagine doing away with all except the actually necessary obligations. I even stopped blogging for the month (and I had some great posts lined up)!

What did I do with all my newly acquired free time? I filled it up, of course! This post is all about what I actually did with extra time in the day versus what I’ve said in the past I would do with extra time if I had it.

SQL Screw-ups: Cursors and While Loops

This is a continuation of the SQL Screw-ups series that stemmed from my Nashville .NET User Group talk on 03/14/2019. Slides and setup details are on the first post in the series.

The rule of thumb around cursors and while loops in SQL is simply don’t do it unless you must. Let’s look at a scenario in which you should not use a loop, and then we’ll look at a problem that is easily solved by a loop.

SQL Screw-ups: Type Mismatches

This is a continuation of the SQL Screw-ups series that stemmed from my Nashville .NET User Group talk on 03/14/2019. Slides and setup details are on the first post in the series.

SQL Server helps us out by performing implicit type conversions when it can, but how helpful is this actually? What you don’t know can hurt you when it comes to type conversion . Let’s discuss the type conversions that you may not know are happening and some tips for avoiding them.