SQL Titbits for the Inexperienced

Erland Sommarskog

This session is directed to those who have been using SQL left-handedly for a year or two. You have learned to write the basic queries, but there are still some gaps in your SQL knowledge, and overall SQL is a little confusing to you. This session aims at filling some of these gaps by covering a few titbits about SQL and giving you some tips that will be useful to you. This includes really basic things like what GO really is and the traps you can run into with NULL values. You will learn a little about CASE, the difference between null and coalesce, and how you should use UNION. Finally, I will talk about CTEs, temp tables, and table variables and you will get some ideas about what to use and when.