script to grant execute to a user

SELECT 'grant execute on ' + name + ' to blahuser' AS function_name FROM sys.objectsWHERE type_desc LIKE '%FUNCTION%' or type_desc LIKE '%STORED_PROCEDURE%' ;

apply vs join

a select will work directly on a table function;likwise join syntax.
apply helps with a function that is taking a parameter - no join syntax

primitive expression in sql server like

for example the following will retrieve any string beging with e and having 4 trailing numbers

select ucode , ulastname, semail from person
where ucode like 'e[0-9][0-9][0-9][0-9]'

code to illustrate ansi padding on one table

drop table padding

go

set ansi_padding on

create table padding (test char(10),test2 varchar(10))

go

insert into padding values('a','a')

set ansi_padding off

alter table padding add  test3 char(10),test4 varchar(10)

go

insert into padding values('b','b','b','b')

set ansi_padding on

select test +'<' ,

 test2 +'<' ,

 test3 +'<' ,

 test4 +'<'

 from padding

bitmap indices

sql server does not have this functionality- point for oracle

2nd and 3rd normal form 2 peas in the pod

2nd dictates that the column should depend on the complete key(e.i., 2 or more columns) while 3rd states that each column should not be dependant on a non-key column

the purpose of a simple CTE in sql -server

Microsoft says "Reference the resulting table multiple times in the same statement" http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms190766.aspx
However, this is always true whenever you are referencing a table,since the alias will be different. What you gain is when the cte is more complicated code (joins, group by's etc) then you have to write the code only once and refer to the cte name with multiple alias'.