First Editorial - T-SQL Challenges Beginners
I would like to welcome all of you to very first editorial for T-SQL Challenges for Beginners. T-SQL Challenges began with the aim to help community to come out of regular mind set of just reading articles online. There is plenty of reading material available online, but there are very few that can make us use our brain cells.
T-SQL Challenges are very well received in community, and today, we are receiving more than 200 responses for every challenge in a very short time. The real challenge is how to keep everybody involved. T-SQL Challenges is focused and encourage experts to bring out the best from them. T-SQL challenges for Beginners share the same enthusiasm from everyone.
Of course, this challenge can be attempted by everyone and just not beginners. However, just like we say “There is a child in everyone,” – in the exactly same way, I would like to say that “There is a beginner in everyone.” We may be expert in certain areas, but quite often we face a barrier to attempt something new and different. I believe that T-SQL Challenges can initiate the Beginners to break that very barrier. Note that the term beginner is used in a broader sense.
Here, Beginners refer to the new innovators. A problem can be easily resolved by writing simple T-SQL; however, what is most important is that an innovative thought can resolve an age old issue. T-SQL has many dimensions, and each dimension is equally important. These dimensions are creativity, performance, data modeling techniques, readability and many more. A solution, which can be simply solved by cursor, can be re-written using a set-based solution; this will lead to the scoring of some points in the area of performance and best practices.
I want to promise one more thing here that just like T-SQL Challenges, this challenge series for beginners will be focused on building a community, which helps each other. This is an open community, and everyone is welcome to stay as long as they wish. From my experience, I know that this is addictive, but I would let you decide the same.
What can you do to help this community effort?
· Participate in challenge and solve them.
· Read the solutions from others and learn new tricks.
· Spread the word for the challenges.
· Participate by submitting new challenges.
· Last but not least, send your feedback.
One more very interesting point is that if you win the challenge and if you present a very innovative solution, you will receive a special certificate from T-SQL challenge founder Jacob Sebastian and myself. On my side, I promise to feature the same as an article on my blog SQLAuthority.com.
Let me see what you have got? Over to very first challenge now...
Pinal Dave