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From: J.B. Moreno on 28 Jul 2010 01:44
Wes Groleau <Groleau+news(a)FreeShell.org> wrote:

-snip-
>
> If I get stuck again, I will certainly consider the preferred
> questioning style should I choose to post here.
>
> Or maybe I'll go back to another forum where I got the same answer,
> but where they seem to prefer the style I prefer. :-)

I figure you've already gone back to the other forum, so this isn't
really meant for you, but...

This isn't about a "preferred questioning style". This isn't Jeopardy
where it's incorrect if it's not put a particular way.

But in general there are 2 kinds of SQL questions: questions about
syntax and questions about relationships. You don't need to post DDL
for syntax questions, we can help you with right syntax for a sub
query, left join, CTE, or ALTER TABLE without knowing about your
relationships. On the other hand, questions about relationships are
difficult to impossible to answer without a precise description of the
data you are dealing with.

And while you can try to give a precise description in plain english,
more often than not, you'll fail. DDL is relatively easy to generate
and will not contain any unstated assumptions.

If you post DDL and data, then the person trying to HELP you can be
certain that the solution they offer produces the answer you require
for the data you provide.

Back to your particular question: Erland was able to recognize that
your question was actually one of syntax, and provide an answer, so DDL
wasn't actually necessary, but it would have removed some uncertainty
and made things a bit easier...

--
J.B. Moreno
From: Erland Sommarskog on 28 Jul 2010 04:46
Wes Groleau (Groleau+news(a)FreeShell.org) writes:
> Fair enough. Then again, I�ve seen people presented with the full
> details get side-tracked by details that are irrelevant to the
> question.

True, we don't shudder from pointing out bad practice when we see it. :-)



--
Erland Sommarskog, SQL Server MVP, esquel(a)sommarskog.se

Links for SQL Server Books Online:
SQL 2008: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/sqlserver/cc514207.aspx
SQL 2005: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/sqlserver/bb895970.aspx
SQL 2000: http://www.microsoft.com/sql/prodinfo/previousversions/books.mspx

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