Guru's Guide to SQL Server Stored Procedures, XML, and HTML

Stored Procedure Primer Today, average software development practices are becalmed in a windless sea of code-and-fix programming—a kind of flat-earth approach to software development...

Suggested Conventions Programming is like playing golf: it can be tedious and can frustrate you to your wit's end, but it's that one good...

Common Design Patterns The harder it is to see the design in the code, the harder it is to preserve it. —Martin Fowler[1][1] Fowler,...

Source Code Management I'm not a great programmer, I'm just a good programmer with great habits. —Kent Beck[1][1] Fowler, Martin. Refactoring:Improving the Design of...

Database Design There is a difference between knowledge and skills. Knowledge comes and goes. Skills stay with you. They're what you have left when...

Data Volumes With design, I can think very fast, but my thinking is full of holes. —Alistair Cockburn[1][1] Fowler, Martin. Refactoring:Improving the Design of...

Error Handling Great designers aren't afraid of complexity, and some of the best are drawn to it. But their goal is to make the...

Triggers I'd rather be a "Has Been" than a "Never Was" any day of the week. —H. W. Kenton A trigger is a special...

Views I want to personally thank all those who have doubted me in the past. All those who gave up on me, who thought...

User-Defined Functions Great designers have a relentless desire to create—to make things. —Steve McConnell[1][1] McConnell, Steve. After the Gold Rush. Redmond, WA:Microsoft Press, 1999....

HTML People often ask me what I think about the downfall of the so-called new economy and the end of the new world order...

to XML He that will not apply new remedies must expect new evils for time is the greatest innovator. —Francis Bacon[1][1] Bacon, Francis. The...

XML and SQL Server: HTTP Queries Generally, he who occupies the field of battle first and waits his enemy is at ease; he who...

XML and SQL Server: Retrieving Data The process of preparing programs for a digital computer is especially attractive, not only because it can be...

XML and SQL Server: OPENXML Generally, in battle, use the normal force to engage; use the extraordinary to win. —Sun Tzu[1][1] Tzu, Sun. The...

.NET and the Coming Revolution Organizations bloated with inefficient processes produce piggy, sluggish software. —Steve McConnell[1][1] McConnell, Steve. After the Gold Rush. Redmond, WA:...

Performance Considerations Happiness isn't anything more than having something to look forward to, and, conversely, unhappiness is borne of dread, of things you don't...

Debugging and Profiling The program may not be broken, but it does hurt. —Martin Fowler[1][1] Fowler, Martin. Refactoring: Improving the Design of Existing Code....

Automation Whether we are building a plane in the living room, writing a book at two o'clock in the morning, or developing components, most...

Extended Stored Procedures Programming in machine code is like eating with a toothpick. The bites are so small and the process so laborious that...

Administrative Stored Procedures Generally, management of many is the same as management of few. It is a matter of organization. —Sun Tzu[1][1] Tzu, Sun....

Undocumented Transact-SQL To a great designer, not applying knowledge is tantamount to not having obtained the knowledge in the first place. —Steve McConnell[1][1] McConnell,...

Arrays If you would master the craft of programming do this: never stop learning. Never be satisfied with what you know, always purpose to...

Creating a Workable Environment Undiluted concentration is key to building good software. Interruptions lead to bugs and poor code. —Kim Kokkonen My first day...

Evolutionary Development The current state of the software industry is as if leading-edge doctors had tested penicillin, found it to be effective, and integrated...

The Gestalt of Testing And everyone that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man which...