I just tackled a problem using SQL's ROW_NUMBER() function, and I'm happy with how it turned out.  It would have been pretty tricky in SQL 2000. The problem at hand was merging 2 sets of data, copying data from one account into another account, where the records don't already exist. ... [Read More]

I cranked out a bunch of code tonight for my new nullable types approach.  This is a .NET 1.1 solution, so it's pretty old school, but it was still fun. I explained the problem with our existing methods the other day.  Basically, we have a ton of helper functions for... [Read More]

I don't know why I hadn't taken the time to do this before, but I just invested 5 minutes into SQL Profiler to make my life much easier when debugging stored procedures. When I'm faced with stored procedure debugging, especially procedures that take awhile to run, or require a series... [Read More]

I believe that my video card woes have finally come to an end.  As I discussed, the key ended up being my RAM, and not the cards.  Ultimately, I guess I can't use 4GB RAM + 2 video cards on Vista 64-bit.  This is good to know since I have... [Read More]

This has always been one of my favorite Dilbert strips.  Why?  Because in our field, it's true.  Many times I've spent more time figuring out what to call something than I spent actually developing it. This week, I've been gathering ideas from team members on how to name some methods... [Read More]