Recent Articles

  • Snowflake: Procedure Default Parameter Values

    Snowflake: Procedure Default Parameter Values

    A few weeks ago, I wrote about polymorphism in Snowflake as a way to “get around” the issue with Snowflake procedures not allowing default parameter values. As the Snowflake platform evolves, more features are constantly being added – today I discovered that default parameter values are supported in procedures! Prior Example Review In the previous example, I Read more

  • SQL Server: “New” String Functions

    SQL Server: “New” String Functions

    String manipulation in T-SQL code is not a new concept. I intentionally used “new” to indicate that some of the string functions discussed in this article were added after SQL Server 2016, which was the version I was using until a recent upgrade. Microsoft is constantly adding new features to SQL Server, many times it Read more

  • Failure IS An Option

    Failure IS An Option

    In today’s social media-driven world it is easy to get caught up in the pursuit of perfect. Pursuing the perfect spouse, job, kids, or bank account balance and comparing our version of those things to the “perfect” version that others portray on different platforms completely skews that it is okay to fail. Let that sink Read more

  • Snowflake: Greatest and Least Functions

    Snowflake: Greatest and Least Functions

    In a recent post, I discussed the GREATEST and LEAST functions in SQL Server 2022. Both of these functions exist in Snowflake, but after some testing, I found that they behave differently in Snowflake than in SQL Server when dealing with NULL values. While the functions behave differently, there are options to “get around” the Read more

  • Thought Leadership Q&A

    Thought Leadership Q&A

    In the summer of 2022, I was a panel member during a discussion on thought leadership during one of my employer’s innovation fireside chats. I had been asked to join the panel a few weeks prior on the topic of “thought leadership”. At the time, I wasn’t even sure what thought leadership was. I assumed Read more

  • Snowflake: Overloading Stored Procedures

    Snowflake: Overloading Stored Procedures

    In a previous post, I discussed some of the struggles I had with converting a stored procedure from SQL Server to Snowflake – namely, the ability to set input parameters to default values. One way to get around this issue is to “overload” the procedure in Snowflake. Snowflake supports polymorphism whereas SQL Server does not. Read more