Markus Winand
@winand.at
SQL Renaissance Ambassador. Author, Trainer, Coach. PhD in Common Sense. Creator of http://use-the-index-luke.com and http://modern-sql.com.
There's much more to defining primary keys than using surrogate id columns @winand.at introduces Structured Primary Keys These are based on foreign keys plus the columns needed for uniqueness Using these can give big performance and functional benefits
Structured Primary Keys
Structured primary keys prevent contradiction and perform better than surrogate keys
buff.ly
peter.eisentraut.org/blog/2026/06...
Waiting for SQL:202y: Stockholm (BMA) meeting report
The most recent meeting of ISO/IEC JTC1 SC32 WG3 “Database Languages” took place from the 15th to the 19th of June 2026 in Stockholm. “WG3”, as we call it, works on standardizing the database language...
peter.eisentraut.org
What happens, when the race to to bottom hits the bottom? Asking for a friend.
New post: Structured Primary Keys For consistency and performance. modern-sql.com/blog/2026-06...
Structured Primary Keys
Structured primary keys prevent contradiction and perform better than surrogate keys
modern-sql.com
The perfect guide to the oracle optimizer blogs.oracle.com/optimizer/or... Kudos @vldbb.bsky.social
blogs.oracle.com
The SQL/JSON Path item-method .keyvalue() has an interesting history in the Oracle Database. modern-sql.com/caniuse/keyv... In 23.26.2 it works, but not in ?( filter ) context.
.KEYVALUE() (SQL/JSON Path Item Method)
.KEYVALUE() JSON/Path: Transform Object Attributes into Array Elements
modern-sql.com
MariaDB 12.3.2 was released last week. It is the first "stable" version of the long-term supported (LTS = 3 years) 12.3 branch. An SQL dialect enhancement is the IS JSON predicate. Also: a bug I reported is fixed (MDEV-38835). All charts on modern-sql.com are updated. #SQL #JSON #MariaDB
MariaDB 12.3.2 was released last week. It is the first "stable" version of the long-term supported (LTS = 3 years) 12.3 branch. An SQL dialect enhancement is the IS JSON predicate. Also: a bug I reported is fixed (MDEV-38835). All charts on modern-sql.com are updated. #SQL #JSON #MariaDB
ORDER BY Has Come a Long Way modern-sql.com/blog/2026-05... The ORDER BY clause is surely one of the best-known SQL clauses. Yet there are a number of common misunderstandings that are worth clearing up. For that, the article walks you through the evolution of the ORDER BY clause the SQL standard.
SQL’s ORDER BY Has Come a Long Way
ORDER BY Evolution
modern-sql.com
Should these functions return the same value? SELECT ROW_NUMBER() OVER (ORDER BY x), ROW_NUMBER() OVER (ORDER BY x) FROM ... What about when many rows have the same value for X? According to the #SQL standard: yes @winand.at investigates
Order-Equivalence
Do identical OVER clauses always produce identical row orders?
buff.ly
Order-equivalent OVER clauses modern-sql.com/blog/2026-03... About an important but rarely appreciated aspect when using multiple OVER clauses in a single query.
AI is the future? Well, if we cannot buy computers anymore, it sounds like stone age to me.
i love databases i love databases i love databases writing sql is fun writing sql is fun writing sql is fun
Reading about LLM's accuracy to produce SQL queries I ran into llm-benchmark.tinybird.live. According to their study, the average accuracy/exactness is ~50%. So half of the time models returns a query than runs but returns a wrong answer. How are people using this in production?
AI SQL Benchmark
We benchmark the performance of AI SQL models against a human baseline to help you choose the best model for your needs.
llm-benchmark.tinybird.live
I wonder when we see the first OpenClaw worm, if there isn't one already. Switching off your Mac Mini won't stop it.
Think you know about #SQL performance? Take this 3-minute indexing quiz by @winand.at A simple test that 60% fail! buff.ly/5C4XZ7N Did you pass? Let us know how you did!
3-Minute Quiz: What do you know about SQL performance?
Just 5 questions to see how much you know about SQL performance. Never make these mistakes again.
buff.ly
What is random, but actually useful, things you wish you had a SQL interface for?
Infinite Recursion Guards modern-sql.com/caniuse/with... With recursive is the only SQL construct that is not guaranteed to terminate, eventually. As the DBMS is typically a very crucial system, infinite loops must be prevented at all times. See how various SQL systems help you.
Infinite Recursion Guards
Protection against infinite loops for WITH RECURSIVE.
modern-sql.com
I’m a simple man. While Oracle people are ecstatic about ASSERTION in the just released version 23.26.1 of the Oracle Database, I’m happy to see something as simple as FILTER :) 🧵
Latencies are often misunderstood. Also the IO latency in cloud environments, which are often many factors higher as on local discs (during development).
Hacker News Top Stories@hackernewsbot.bsky.social · 6mo agoMany Small Queries Are Efficient in SQLite | Discussion
LEAD(x) IGNORE NULLS OVER(ORDER BY n) Not very often, but when I need IGNORE NULLS, then I really miss it in PostgreSQL. modern-sql.com/caniuse/T616
T616, “Null treatment option for LEAD and LAG functions”
T616, “Null treatment option for LEAD and LAG functions” in SQL
modern-sql.com
