Invitation and roundup from Michael J. Swart (check out his drawing this month.
Your writing assignment for March 2014 is to
> *pick a popular opinion and argue against it.*
… or at least qualify it. Given any issue, people drift to two kinds of crowds. There’s the “it depends” crowd and there’s the “never ever” crowd. We tend to fall in with one crowd or the other. This month, I want you to find an “never ever” issue and argue for it (or conversely, find a “always” issue and argue against it).
I wonder how this month will go. It takes guts to go against common wisdom.
You don’t necessarily have to argue against a *universal* opinion, but it should at least be popular. I think that your choice of opinions is practically limitless:
- Bob Duffy had [a list of 10 interview questions](http://blogs.prodata.ie/post/10-Interview-questions-to-annoy-SQL-Professionals.aspx) that annoy SQL professionals. With some great topics there including GUIDs, Cursors, and heaps.
- Google results for [“SQL.Server should.never”](https://www.google.com/search?q=sql.server+should.never&tbs=li:1)
- Fair’s fair. Here are the results for [“SQL.Server should.always”](https://www.google.com/search?q=sql.server+should.always&tbs=li:1)
- Does anyone want to have a shot at redeeming Microsoft Access?
- Foreign Keys, SchmoreignKeys.
- Check it out. SQL Server supports varbinary(max)! Ideal for json documents and xml documents (or both!)
- Shrinking databases and/or log files (because of the *fragmentation!* God save us all from *fragmentation!)*
Here’s a little secret. This month’s topic is not for you. It’s for the readers. It’s a chance for you to give them a more nuanced understanding of a topic that they may not have given a lot of thought up until now. I’m a little curious myself.