Tag: Execution Plans

  • sp_executesql and Execution Plans

    sp_executesql and Execution Plans

    Whilst I would say the actual execution plan is the most useful, estimated execution plans have their place – sometimes you just need to see estimates or a quick verification that a change you have made has had some effect on plan shape. I find them helpful to quickly see if a change made to…

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  • In a Query Plan Near You – Stats Loaded For Compilation

    In a Query Plan Near You – Stats Loaded For Compilation

    Something I have been making use of recently is the change in the way statistics that have been used to compile a plan are presented to us as SQL Server users. On a number of occasions I have needed to understand, or at least get some sense of, which statistics SQL Server has used to…

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  • SQL Server – Working Smarter, Not Harder

    SQL Server – Working Smarter, Not Harder

    Back in my university days, a lecturer of mine would say how programmers are experts in “creative laziness” He was referring to practices such as using methods and classes in C# – constructs that mean as a developer, you follow the DRY (Don’t Repeat Yourself) ethos – you are saving yourself time by writing things…

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  • SQL Server – Working Smarter, Not Harder (Again)

    SQL Server – Working Smarter, Not Harder (Again)

    In the last post we talked about the concept of creative laziness and how SQL Server’s query optimizer notices when the user has asked for something that requires no actual work due to a logical contradiction. In this post, we’ll look at another example of where the optimizer works smarter not harder and can reduce…

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  • SQL Server Execution Plans Explained

    SQL Server Execution Plans Explained

    In these articles, you will see me reference execution plans a lot – talk about them, provide screenshots etc. I assume that the reader has some level of knowledge about what an execution plan is, how to view them and how to understand them. This post is aimed at those readers who do not have…

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  • More on Execution Plans

    More on Execution Plans

    In my previous post on execution plans we looked at what an execution plan is, how SQL Server creates them and why we might use them, now we’ll delve a little further. Recap We very briefly compared two SQL Server execution plans on two queries against the Stack Overflow 2010 database provided under cc-by-sa 4.0…

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