iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Darling Data @erikdarling.com · 29/09/2026

Why did Microsoft turn RCSI on by default in Azure SQL Database? Because they had to run your workload themselves. Not a joke. It is my strongest argument. I brought others. Read Committed Is Cruel by Default, at #PASSDataSummit West. passdatacommunitysummit.com/west/

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Darling Data @erikdarling.com · 29/09/2026

I asked an AI to tune my query. It added DISTINCT, apologized, and said the real index was the friends we made along the way. AI T-SQL gets a segment at my #PASSDataSummit West precon. Where it helps, where it lies. passdatacommunitysummit.com/west/

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Darling Data @erikdarling.com · 24/09/2026

Knock knock. Who's there? A writer. A writer who? Doesn't matter. You're a reader under Read Committed, so you'll be waiting out here until the writer is done. Read Committed Is Cruel by Default: #PASSDataSummit West, Seattle. passdatacommunitysummit.com/west/

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Darling Data @erikdarling.com · 24/09/2026

What's the difference between a table variable and a temp table? One of them has statistics. That's it. That's the joke. It's also why your batch job takes four hours. Full day of this at my #PASSDataSummit West precon: T-SQL That Doesn't Suck. passdatacommunitysummit.com/west/

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Darling Data @erikdarling.com · 22/09/2026

I put NOLOCK on all the reports. Now they are fast and occasionally fiction. Row versioning gets you the fast part without the creative writing. Read Committed Is Cruel by Default: my session at #PASSDataSummit West. passdatacommunitysummit.com/west/

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Darling Data @erikdarling.com · 22/09/2026

Knock knock. Who's there? An implicit conversion. An implicit conversion who? Doesn't matter. You're scanning the whole table now. T-SQL That Doesn't Suck, my #PASSDataSummit West precon. Bring your worst stored procedures. passdatacommunitysummit.com/west/

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Darling Data @erikdarling.com · 20/09/2026

Liking Rush is a real character flaw.

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Darling Data @erikdarling.com · 20/09/2026

congratulations to visual studio code for reaching a cool version number: code.visualstudio.com/updates/v1_138

code.visualstudio.com

Visual Studio Code 1.138

Learn what is new in Visual Studio Code 1.138

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Darling Data @erikdarling.com · 18/09/2026

PerformanceMonitor 3.8.0: build your own alert rules on any metric it collects, SQL Server or Postgres. High CPU pages name the backup that caused them. Long query alerts name the Agent job. Your 2am self deserves this. github.com/erikdarlingd...

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Darling Data @erikdarling.com · 17/09/2026

Two sessions try to tell the same knock knock joke. Neither can say who's there until the other answers. SQL Server picks a victim. That is the real technical term. Deadlocks, blocking, and how to stop both: my #PASSDataSummit West session. passdatacommunitysummit.com/west/

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Darling Data @erikdarling.com · 17/09/2026

A CTE walks into a bar. Then walks into the same bar. Then walks into the same bar. You referenced it three times. It is not materialized. It will keep walking into that bar. T-SQL That Doesn't Suck: my full day #PASSDataSummit West precon. passdatacommunitysummit.com/west/

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Darling Data @erikdarling.com · 16/09/2026

Performance Studio 1.26 is out. The UI got a real pass. One icon set instead of emoji, advice as cards instead of a wall of monospace. Plus a stack of bugs I only found because I was in there looking. github.com/erikdarlingd...

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Darling Data @erikdarling.com · 15/09/2026

Nobody picked Read Committed. Ever. It came with the box, like a free knife that only cuts you. My #PASSDataSummit West session: Read Committed Is Cruel by Default. Pick an isolation level on purpose, once, as a treat. passdatacommunitysummit.com/west/

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Darling Data @erikdarling.com · 15/09/2026

Knock knock. Who's there? Your query from this morning. Your query from this morning who? Exactly. Still running. Nobody remembers who it is anymore. I fix this for a living. Full day precon at #PASSDataSummit West: T-SQL That Doesn't Suck. passdatacommunitysummit.com/west/

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Darling Data @erikdarling.com · 10/09/2026

Free SQL Server and PostgreSQL performance monitoring. No agents, no per-core pricing. v3.7.0 is out with fleet-health, Azure SQL Database, and PostgreSQL fixes across the board. 5 servers or 500, same tool. erikdarling.com/free-sql-ser...

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Darling Data @erikdarling.com · 03/09/2026

Performance Studio 1.24.0: crash-proof session restore, unsaved queries that survive a crash, full analysis of stored procedure and cursor bodies, and web plan sharing that no longer chokes on deep plans. github.com/erikdarlingd...

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Darling Data @erikdarling.com · 01/09/2026

Heading home. Thanks for the month, Europe. Paris > Azores > Lisbon > Cascais > Faro

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Darling Data @erikdarling.com · 29/08/2026

Hm. Then it seems an odd thing to paywall if it’s not really a selling point. I read this as something that tears down a significant one, but I’m not a Flyway user as the author seems to be.

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Darling Data @erikdarling.com · 29/08/2026

Well, sure, but many fairly to very obvious things need to be pointed out to people before they become obvious 😂

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Darling Data @erikdarling.com · 15/08/2026

Azores! I saw some cows. They didn’t speak much English but they seemed nice enough.

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Darling Data @erikdarling.com · 14/08/2026

Au revoir Paris, Vou ser português agora.

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Darling Data @erikdarling.com · 12/08/2026

If you need support use GitHub.

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Darling Data @erikdarling.com · 12/08/2026

brb gonna light a cigarette off this eclipse

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Darling Data @erikdarling.com · 07/08/2026

I’m not aware of there being anything special about it. I just grabbed the 18 build for Windows.

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Darling Data @erikdarling.com · 07/08/2026

Well, then don’t use it. Not everyone enjoys the Linux experience.

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Darling Data @erikdarling.com · 07/08/2026

You can run it in either one. Ta-da!

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Darling Data @erikdarling.com · 07/08/2026

I really didn’t like the version that created a database on a production SQL Server and logged things there. It never really took off the way Lite did, so I decided to just make a more enterprise-y version of that. There is of course a dashboard still.

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Darling Data @erikdarling.com · 01/08/2026

Goodnight you sleepyheads.

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Darling Data @erikdarling.com · 29/07/2026

Well, there you go, you’re the algorithm!

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Darling Data @erikdarling.com · 29/07/2026

I have about three thumb scrolls on here before I get bored.

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Darling Data @erikdarling.com · 29/07/2026

Performance monitoring that doesn't suck. Free. Built by someone who has actually tuned a query. Solve problems, instead of clicking around dumb charts and graphs. PerformanceMonitor 3.3.0 is out now: github.com/erikdarlingd...

github.com

Release v3.3.0 — Nothing Held Back · erikdarlingdata/PerformanceMonitor

See CHANGELOG.md for details. Highlights: the retention rollups now serve the history they claim (coverage-aware read routing + the --backfill-rollups operator verb, ending the held-purge era with ...

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Darling Data @erikdarling.com · 24/07/2026

It’s really cool. I’m still figuring some stuff out with it.

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Darling Data @erikdarling.com · 24/07/2026

Nah. I really like the TimeScale stuff for this.

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Darling Data @erikdarling.com · 23/07/2026

Call him by his proper name The DURBINATOR

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Darling Data @erikdarling.com · 22/07/2026

v3.2.0 is out. Darling is the new headless SQL Server monitoring edition. One free service watches 5 servers or 500, and an AI agent can drive it over MCP. Built by someone who actually tunes queries. github.com/erikdarlingd...

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