[dba-SQLServer] Being helpful

Hear hear.  And remember that sometimes just giving a person a fish is all
they really need.  Not everyone needs to learn to fish, or at least they do
not need to learn all the advanced techniques.

I am a programmer and I love programming, but I am not heavily involved in
SQL Server.  All I need is a solution and a few light reading tips on how
and why.  If the solution is at all readable I can look at it and learn what
it is doing, but it is often the case that I would NEVER find that solution
on my own (and I have always tried).  And if it is too complex, then my eyes
glaze over and I just move on to the next message.

I read every post to this board, every day.  Most of them cause my eyes to
glaze over, but I am here, silently reading.  I was trying to do my entire
project in .Net, then I realized that I could do some of the stuff much more
efficiently (and perhaps in some cases ONLY) using SPs and UDFs, so I
started reading up on them and got a bunch working on my own.  Much of my
frustrations come from switching from a development environment like .Net or
Access to the query editor in SQL Server.  Even in the relatively basic
Access we have modules and classes, intellisense, syntax checking, error
handlers, compile time errors that actually mean something and so forth.
What a jarring contrast to switch to SQL Server query editor.

But I am making progress.

John W. Colby
Colby Consulting
www.ColbyConsulting.com 
-----Original Message-----
From: dba-sqlserver-bounces at databaseadvisors.com
[mailto:dba-sqlserver-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of Eric Barro
Sent: Thursday, March 27, 2008 12:41 PM
To: 'Discussion concerning MS SQL Server'
Subject: Re: [dba-SQLServer] Being helpful

Perhaps we can all make it a practice or habit to present a workable
solution first (with code and comments as much as possible) AND THEN include
best practices to explain why the code we recommended is the way to go.

I'm sure that we would all appreciate getting a quick-turn-around solution
AND a best practices RELATED to the solution. For the most part we all have
priorities...

1. Get the job done as quick and efficiently as possible to satisfy our
customers 2. Develop systems and procedures using the quick solutions as a
spring board. Sometimes we will need to align our quick and dirty solutions
with best practices.

And let's not forget that when someone takes the time to explain their
situation (like JC) with detailed information, they are honestly seeking
solutions that will work for their immediate situation AND the future as
well.