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Friday Reading 2017-01-06

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Happy New Year to all of you out there! I know, I know it’s a week late but hey I’ve had a bit of a hectic one plus once again I’ve managed to catch the same bug that I always seem to get this time of year (excuses, excuses).

Well 2016 was a bit of a wild ride, wonder what 2017 has in-store for us? Personally I’m hoping that container technology continues to mature, the bugs are fixed in SSMS (possibly see that dark theme released? ha!) and that we see some cool blog posts about SQL on linux being utilised. I’ve read enough posts on how to install SQL on linux but I wonder how many people out there are actually using it (someone’s got to be mad enough)?

Anyway this week I’ve been reading: –

Magnificent app which corrects your previous console command
Anyone out there using bash on windows? Anyone out there as terrible at typing as I am? Have a look at this…

The Input Club
Custom mechanical keyboards? Yes please!

Leave your comfort zone in 2017
Irish Times article on 5 keys areas to focus on when trying to leave your comfort zone.

Running SQL queries with Visual Studio Code
Rob Sewell guides us through using VS Code to run t-sql queries

Wired – Microsoft’s old school database was the surprise software of the year
Anyone else roll their eyes at “old school”?

And finally…

Dr Donald Henderson
With so many celebrity deaths in 2016, I want to draw attention to Dr Donald Henderson who also died last year at 87. Dr Henderson was instrumental in the eradication of the smallpox virus and as such has saved countless lives.

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Saturday Reading 2016-12-17

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It was my office Xmas party last night so whilst recovering on my settee, I’ll be reading:-

The Most Important Role of a SQL Server DBA
Back to basics, Angela Tidwell talks about what the most important task of a DBA is (can you guess?)

Don’t blink you might READPAST it
Cool post about the query hint READPAST

The ambiguity of the ORDER BY in SQL Server
Klaus Aschenbrenner talks about quirks with the ORDER BY clause

Evernote’s new privacy policies
So Evernote’s new privacy policies basically say that its employees can view your notes, yea…

Going to take a break over the holiday period so have a good Xmas and see you in the New Year.

Thanks for reading.

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Presenting with SQL Server Management Studio

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Short one this week as it’s the usual madness on the lead up to Xmas!

One of the cool things that was mentioned in the AMA that the SQL Server Team did back in November was a quick and easy way to setup SSMS for presenting.

N.B. – This only works with v17.0 which can be grabbed in the usual place.

Load up SSMS and hit Ctrl + Q to take you to the quick launch bar. Then type PresentON and that’s it! You’re setup for using SSMS whilst presenting!

So here’s a screen shot of SSMS with a simple query in it:-

presenting1

And this is the same query after running PresentON:-

presenting2

To reverse the process, simply type PresentOFF into the quick launch bar!

From what I can see, the main difference is that the text size has been taken up to 14 from 10, which may not be enough but it’s a start. Be pretty cool if, in a future version, you could customise this!

Of course, if you don’t have v17.0 (and I must admit, the part about it not being recommended for production use is a bit worrying) you can always follow Paul Randal’s guide on how manually setup SSMS for presenting and then save it as a template.

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Monday Coffee 2016-12-12

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Speaking and presenting

One of my biggest fears is public speaking and judging by this article, I’m not alone.

However it’s something that I’ve always wanted to do and as such this year I’ve done a few lightening talk sessions at various events. For those that don’t know, a lightening talk is a short (5 to 15 min) session on any subject that you are free to pick and they’re bundled up together so you’ll get 4/5 speakers within an hour.

They’re a great way to get into public speaking, the time goes incredibly fast and there’s no time for Q&A afterwards (usually). I would advise anyone looking to get into presenting to do a couple of these sessions first, just to get a feel for it. I’d also say that, as the session is so short, you should memorise your entire presentation. Practice it over and over so that you can do it in your sleep!

I’d also say that even though I’ve just said you need to memorise your presentation, don’t have a script that you need to stick to. If you plan what you’re going to say word for word and lose your way, you’ll get lost and find it difficult to recover. Instead have a general guide in your head that allows for things to be moved around a bit.

Now demos, if you’re going to do a demo, it needs to be flawless. There’s no time for you to be fixing things. There’s also no time for typing so have everything prepared to be run immediately. Time is short but I’ve seen a few great demos done in lightening talks!

Hopefully that’s a bit of advice that will help you out if you’re thinking of doing one of these talks.

I’m going to move onto some longer talks in 2017, I’ll post up any that I do and let you know how they go! Thanks for reading.

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Friday Reading 2016-12-09

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One week nearer to Xmas! Before I spend the weekend braving the centre of town desperately wondering what presents to get my family, I’ll be reading…

Mr Robot killed the Hollywood hacker
Article on MIT Tech Review about how hacking is depicted in Mr Robot.

Understanding Scan Count 0, Logical Reads N
Shane O’Neill details why the output of STATISTICS IO can sometimes show 0 scans but a non-zero value for logical reads.

Cassini sends back 1st images from new orbit around Saturn
CBC News article on the first images sent back by Cassini from Saturn

This is How I Work
Inspired by Adam Bertram’s post, Chrissy LeMaire shares details on her work setup

The 12 Days of 2FA: How to Enable Two-Factor Authentication For Your Online Accounts
The Electronic Frontier Foundation’s article on enabling 2FA for all your online accounts.

Have a good weekend!