SQL Server MVP Deep Dives 2, Chapter 2

“Yes, we are all individuals” A look at uniqueness in the world of SQL – by Rob Farley (B|T)

After realizing that the chapter title was based on a quote from Monty Python’s Life of Brian I was expecting a lot from chapter 2. I was not disappointed. It is perhaps not quite as entertaining as hearing Rob give a PASS Lightning Talk about collation, but it was easy to read and I learned a lot. I learned random things like, a unique constraint shows up as a blue key in the object explorer. And I learned cool things like, combining a unique index with a filter to create unique pockets of data. I’m not sure when I would use that , but it is cool to know that I could. The example in the chapter is that you could enforce a rule stating all products which are red must have a different name, but there can be duplicate names among other colors. Continue reading →

SQL Server MVP Deep Dives 2, Chapter 1

Where Are My Keys? by Ami Levin (B|T)

The first Deep Dive is a no holds barred write-up by Ami Levin on the controversial subject of Natural keys vs Surrogate keys. Which was a great read for me because the first thing I learned was that there is a controversy in the database world over the use of natural keys vs. surrogate keys. The chapter starts out explaining what the difference is between the two and then outlines the benefits (and limitations) of each one. Continue reading →