About SQL Sam…
When I was a boy, I enjoyed reading the Encyclopedia Brown, Boy Detective
series by Donald J. Sobol. Encyclopedia Brown was a kid my age who had read the entire encyclopedia,
and, using his knowledge and powers of observation, solved neighborhood mysteries that no one
else could solve.
Being a wanna-be writer at heart, and having a love of solving SQL Server problems, I decided to combine some of my
real-life SQL Server experiences with the fictional character of SQL Sam, SQL Detective.
Each case presented here is based on actual events, with the names and details changed to protect the, ummm, less-enlightened.
(And, by the way, the examples shown here have been simplified for presentation and don’t necessarily represent runnable code. In
other words, don’t try this at home…)
Enough details are presented in each case so you can try to solve the mystery yourself. If you’d like some more hints, click
on the Turn On Clues link at the top of the page.
The solution then shows
how SQL Sam solved the mystery.
If you’re curious about the story behind the stories, and want to know the
secret "jokes" I planted in each story, go to
Behind the SQL: The Making of SQL Sam.
And now, without further ado, I present…
The SQL Sam Case Files
