Some time ago what started as one article on dates and their value, turned into a mini-series (nearly as engaging as The Queens Gambit). I kept finding more to say about dates and examples to give. I’m now pulling them together with a little narrative.
It’s handy to programmatically get metadata on tables (column names and datatypes), either to review implementation, or as part of a process automating code creation.
I want to demonstrate a simple, yet common style partitioned fact table. I’ll also include here some handy bits of SQL to help along the way.
In my first article Partitions in SQL Server: Creating a Partitioned Table, I briefly covered the difference between LEFT and RIGHT in partition function definitions. Here I have a comparison of the two.
Partitions are now a common feature in most DBMS environments, although the syntax and functionality varies between implementations. Here I’m looking at the fundamentals of partitioned tables in SQL Server.
Here are two SQL Server based methods for waiting for data, and raising an alert if it’s not ready. I’ve designed them as simple templates which I can easily re-use and customise.
I’m not saying that floating point numbers are the devil, and I’m not saying that the float data type should be avoided. But they should only be used when it’s entirely necessary and appropriate. The hidden danger of improper use can can become a ticking time bomb! Most (if not all) dangers come from FLOATs…