Languages and coding

Getting started with Amazon S3 and Python

July 31, 2020 by Aveek Das

In this article, I am going to explain what Amazon S3 is and how to connect to it using python. This article will be focused on beginners who are trying to get their hands on python and working around the AWS ecosystem. AWS, as you might know, is one of the largest cloud providers along with Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud Platform. There are a lot of services offered by Amazon including AWS S3. Amazon S3, also abbreviated as Amazon Simple Storage Service is a storage service offered by the cloud provider that enables the users to store any kind of files in this service. It is designed to make web-scale computing easier for developers.

Add or remove a node from SQL Server Always On Availability Groups using T-SQL scripts

July 29, 2020 by Rajendra Gupta

This is the 7^th article in the series of SQL Server Always on Availability Groups.

Diving deep with complex Data Structures

July 29, 2020 by Aveek Das

In my previous article, Understanding common Data Structures, I have mentioned the most commonly used data structures in software programming. In this article, let us get into some more details about the other data structures that are a bit complex than the ones already discussed but also used quite often while designing software applications. Here, we will look into the following data structures.

Learn SQL: Naming Conventions

July 28, 2020 by Emil Drkusic

A naming convention is a set of unwritten rules you should use if you want to increase the readability of the whole data model. Today, I’ll try to explain how you should formulate your naming convention and, maybe even more important, why should you do it and what is the overall benefit from using it.

Understanding the SQL MERGE statement

July 27, 2020 by Aveek Das

In this article, I am going to give a detailed explanation of how to use the SQL MERGE statement in SQL Server. The MERGE statement in SQL is a very popular clause that can handle inserts, updates, and deletes all in a single transaction without having to write separate logic for each of these. You can specify conditions on which you expect the MERGE statement to insert, update, or delete, etc.

An introduction to SQL tables

July 17, 2020 by Esat Erkec

In this article, we will learn the concept of SQL tables and then work on how we can create tables with different techniques in SQL Server.

Understanding common Data Structures

July 15, 2020 by Aveek Das

In this article, I am going to walk you through the concepts of the common Data Structures that every student, colleague working with computers should be aware of. Data Structure forms an integral part of any system or database design. It is a very interesting and intuitive concept that you can apply anywhere. Through this article, I aim to introduce the beginners to the concepts of Data Structures and brush up the same for colleagues who have already been associated with the industry for years. This will also help you understand some database concepts more easily once you have a grasp over these concepts.

Deploy Python apps to Azure Functions using Visual Studio Code

July 10, 2020 by Aveek Das

In this article, we are going to build a small python application and deploy it to Azure Functions. The development and the deployment will be done using the Visual Studio (VS) Code. As you might be aware, VS Code is one of the most widely used and preferred code editors for programmers. It is a cross-platform tool, which means you can install this tool on any operating system of your choice, starting from Windows, Linux, or Mac OS.

SQL UPDATE syntax explained

July 10, 2020 by Bojan Petrovic

This article will get you familiar with the SQL UPDATE syntax and demonstrate how this statement can be used for modifying data using T-SQL. Data modification side of DML language in T-SQL includes three statements used for modifying data in SQL Server and those are: INSERT, UPDATE, and DELETE. The focus here will be on the UPDATE statement explicitly.

How to debug Python scripts in Visual Studio Code

July 8, 2020 by Aveek Das

In this article, I am going to explain how we can easily debug Python scripts using the Visual Studio (VS) Code. In my previous article on this topic, I have explained how to set up a development environment to start coding in Python. I would definitely recommend reading that article if you have not setup your Visual Studio Code environment yet. This article can be considered as a continuation of the above-mentioned steps as I am assuming that you are already into programming in Python using the VS Code.

Learn SQL: SQL Best Practices for Deleting and Updating data

July 7, 2020 by Emil Drkusic

Deleting and updating data is very common, but if performed without taking care, which could lead to inconsistent data or data loss. Today, we’ll talk about SQL best practices when performing deletes and updates. We’re not talking about regular/expected changes, but rather about manual changes which will be required from time to time. So, let’s start.

Add users to a Power BI workspace using PowerShell

July 6, 2020 by Aveek Das

In this article, I am going to explain how to add users to a Power BI workspace using Power BI PowerShell. As you already know, Power BI is a business intelligence tool from Microsoft, using which we can build graphical reports and dashboards which bring some sense to our data that resides on the database. Power BI also has a web interface known as the Power BI service, which can be used to share and collaborate these reports and dashboards with multiple users within or out of the organization.

Explore the SQL query Hint OPTION (FAST N)

July 2, 2020 by Rajendra Gupta

In this article, we will introduce SQL queries hint and will analyze the OPTION(Fast ‘N’) hint in detail.

Setting up Visual Studio Code for Python Development

July 1, 2020 by Aveek Das

In this article, I am going to explain how to set up your Visual Studio Code for Python Development. Visual Studio Code or, popularly known as VS Code, is one of the free and open-source code editors developed by Microsoft and is mostly preferred by developers of all the major programming languages due to its flexibility and other integrated development tools like debugging, IntelliSense, etc. Visual Studio Code is available to be downloaded for all the major operating systems like Windows, Linux, and macOS. You can visit https://visualstudio.microsoft.com/ to download it based on the OS you are using.

SQL SUBSTRING function and its performance tips

June 30, 2020 by Esat Erkec

In this article, we will briefly explain the SUBSTRING function and then focus on performance tips about it.

Execute a SQL Server procedure inside a function

June 23, 2020 by Jignesh Raiyani

In this article, we will ensure that the execution of the SQL Server procedure inside the function is possible. A common understanding of the database developer is that the procedure cannot be utilized or executed inside a user-defined function because the user-defined function does not allow performing DML operation with the table. The procedure is allowed to play with the database and its property, whether a user-defined function isn’t. That should be the essential reason behind allowing the execution of a SQL Server procedure inside the function.

Learn SQL: SQL Server Cursors

June 22, 2020 by Emil Drkusic

SQL Server cursors are one common topic on the Internet. You’ll find different opinions when to use them and when not to do it. Today, we’ll also talk about them and answer the question when (not) to use them.

An overview of Logon triggers in SQL Server

June 19, 2020 by Rajendra Gupta

This article gives you an overview of Logon triggers in SQL Server and its usage to control SQL Server authentication.

How to rollback using explicit SQL Server transactions

June 17, 2020 by Rajendra Gupta

In this article, we will explore the process of rollback an explicit SQL Server transaction. We will also explore the difference between explicit and implicit transactions.

Learn SQL: Intro to SQL Server loops

June 15, 2020 by Emil Drkusic

Loops are one of the most basic, still very powerful concepts in programming – the same stands for SQL Server loops. Today, we’ll give a brief info on how they function and introduce more complex concepts in upcoming articles of this series.

Interpreting execution plans of T-SQL queries

June 12, 2020 by Esat Erkec

In this article, we will analyze a simple T-SQL query execution plan with different aspects. This will help us to improve our practical skills instead of discussing theoretical knowledge.

Using the SQL Server Service Broker for Asynchronous Processing

June 10, 2020 by Dinesh Asanka

Introduction

In the real-world implementation of SQL Server of an enterprise system, it always needs to implement data in multiple databases. In most of the cases, a single transaction will span across multiple databases. If there are multiple databases, there will be performance issues and implementation issues during the cross-database transactions. However, with the use of SQL Service Broker that was introduced in SQL Server 2005, you can implement asynchronous transactions between databases.

An overview of computed columns in SQL Server

June 9, 2020 by Rajendra Gupta

In this article, we will explore computed columns in SQL Server and their configurations.

SQL Server Choose() function introduction and examples

June 5, 2020 by Rajendra Gupta

In the article, a CASE statement in SQL, we explored one of the important logical expressions – the Case statement in SQL Server to return the values based on the specified condition. Today, we will talk about another useful logical Choose() function in SQL Server 2012 onwards and its comparison with the Case statement.

Security Testing SQL Logins with the PWDCOMPARE function

June 3, 2020 by Timothy Smith

In this article, we’ll look at using the built-in PWDCOMPARE function in SQL Server for security testing passwords. While this tool may seem like it exposes a weakness in Microsoft SQL Server because we can test for passwords, it should be of note that an attacker could do the same attack by attempting to login to our database server assuming the attacker was able to access a connection to it. Therefore, this function does not increase the risk of an attack on SQL Server but does help us identify possible weaknesses in our environment so that we can quickly mitigate these risks. In addition, we’ll also combine this with other related tools in SQL Server to help us with logins.