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Generating Demo Data with T-SQL for Software Developers

As a software developer, one of the most important tasks in the development process is testing your code. However, testing with real data can be tricky, especially if you’re dealing with sensitive or confidential information. That’s where demo data comes in – it allows you to test your code with realistic data without risking any real-world consequences.

But how do you generate demo data? One powerful tool in your developer toolkit is T-SQL, a dialect of SQL used by Microsoft SQL Server and Sybase databases. With T-SQL, you can easily create tables and insert data into them, allowing you to generate realistic data quickly and efficiently.

Here’s an example of how to use T-SQL to generate random demo data for a Students table:

CREATE TABLE Students ( StudentId INT PRIMARY KEY,
                        FirstName VARCHAR(50),
                        LastName VARCHAR(50),
                        Age INT,
                        GPA DECIMAL(3, 2));

DECLARE @i INT = 1;

WHILE @i <= 10
    BEGIN
        INSERT INTO Students
            ( StudentId, FirstName, LastName, Age, GPA )
        VALUES
            ( @i,
              'FirstName' + CAST (@i AS VARCHAR(2)),
              CHAR (ABS (CHECKSUM (NEWID ())) % 26 + 65) + CHAR (ABS (CHECKSUM (NEWID ())) % 26 + 65)
              + CHAR (ABS (CHECKSUM (NEWID ())) % 26 + 65) + CHAR (ABS (CHECKSUM (NEWID ())) % 26 + 65)
              + CHAR (ABS (CHECKSUM (NEWID ())) % 26 + 65) + CHAR (ABS (CHECKSUM (NEWID ())) % 26 + 65),
              CAST (RAND () * 10 + 18 AS INT),
              CAST (RAND () * 2 + 3 AS DECIMAL(3, 2)));

        SET @i = @i + 1;
    END;

SELECT
    *
FROM
    Students;

This code generates 10 rows of demo data for a Students table, with each row having a unique StudentId and random values for FirstName, LastName, Age, and GPA. As a software developer, you can modify the code to generate more or fewer rows of data or adjust the random ranges to suit your needs.

Generating demo data with T-SQL is not only easy, it’s also efficient. With just a few lines of code, you can generate large amounts of realistic data, making it easier to test and develop your applications. Additionally, because T-SQL is specific to Microsoft SQL Server and Sybase databases, it offers advanced features and optimizations that can make your data generation process faster and more effective.

Another advantage of generating demo data with T-SQL is that it allows you to generate data that conforms to your database schema. You can create tables with constraints and data types that match your production database, ensuring that your demo data is as close to real-world data as possible.

In conclusion, generating demo data with T-SQL is a powerful tool for software developers. It allows you to test your code with realistic data without risking any real-world consequences, and it’s efficient, customizable, and conforms to your database schema. Whether you’re a beginner or an experienced developer, T-SQL can help you generate demo data quickly and easily.

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Improving SQL Server Performance

If you want to get the most out of your SQL server, it’s important to make sure it’s running as efficiently as possible. Here are some tips to help you out:

  1. Indexing: Properly designing your indexes can speed up SELECT queries and improve overall performance. Just be mindful that indexes can also slow down INSERT, UPDATE, and DELETE queries, so it’s important to think carefully about which columns to index and how.
  2. Stored procedures: Using stored procedures can save time by allowing you to pre-compile and optimize your queries. This reduces the overhead of parsing and compiling SQL statements each time they’re run.
  3. Data modeling: Making sure your data is well-organized can also have a big impact on performance. Normalizing your data and choosing the right data types can help reduce the amount of space needed to store it and speed up queries.
  4. Data types: Speaking of data types, using the right one for each column can improve performance. For instance, using VARCHAR for a column that only holds numbers can slow things down because SQL has to convert the data to a numerical type.
  5. Caching: Storing frequently accessed data in memory (caching) can make it faster to retrieve. This is especially useful for databases with a high volume of reads and a low volume of writes.
  6. Maintenance: Regular maintenance, like rebuilding indexes and running database consistency checks, can also help keep your server running smoothly.

By following these tips, you can help ensure that your SQL server is running at its best.

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How To Use Window’s Snap Assist in Windows 10 – Part 3

Part 3 of 3 – Snap Assist

In Part 1, I showed you how to use the Windows snap feature in Windows 10 using the mouse and in Part 2, I showed you how to use the same snapping feature using the keyboard instead. Regardless of how you decide to use the snap feature, keyboard, mouse or a combination of both. In this video, I’ll show you how to make that process even easier and faster by using another windows 10 snap feature, known as Snap Assist. Continue reading “How To Use Window’s Snap Assist in Windows 10 – Part 3”