The year is coming to a close, so it’s time to look back on your favorite stuff from this year.

2024 Blog Posts with the Most Comments

1. What’s Your Biggest Database Regret?
2. Query Exercise: Fix This Computed Column
3. Query Exercise: Find the Best Time for Database Maintenance
4. Query Exercise: Find Recent Superstars
5. Query Exercise: Find Long Values Faster

I started the new Query Exercises series this year and I was really tickled by the reception of it. I figured that if it caught on, I’d make an e-book out of it, so look for that in 2025 along with more Query Exercises posts.

Most-Watched 2024 YouTube Videos

1. Using the Apple Vision Pro in My Office
2. Debugging a Complex T-SQL Issue
3. Availability Groups 101
4. Automatic Tuning in Inaction
5. Office Hours Aug 28, 2024

I’m not surprised about #1, and I’m not surprised that the topic-focused videos on debugging, AGs, and automatic tuning do better than Office Hours. They take a lot more work to put together though, so I tend to not do those as often.

On my recent China/Japan trip, I decided to sell the Apple Vision Pro. I was only using it when I traveled, and even then, it takes up a lot of space in my carryon. When I saw the Huawei Mate XT dual-fold, tri-pane phone/tablet thing, I thought, that would be a much better use of the same money. I’d actually carry that around instead when I travel, and it’d be much more practical. (I wouldn’t daily-drive it as a phone though – I’m too tied into Apple’s ecosystem.)

Most Popular 2024 TikTok Comment Responses

1. You are not Amazon.
2. Why relational databases don’t work well for large e-commerce shopping carts
3. How to corrupt databases
4. “Pretty sure nobody puts business logic in the db layer”
5. “my applications don’t need time zones”

On TikTok, I have a lot of fun with the commenters – some of which have brilliant insight, and some of which just make for good comedic fun. I really hope TikTok doesn’t die off in 2025, because it’s been the source of a lot of laughs for me so far.

The 2024 Photos Y’all Liked the Most

Over on my Instagram feed, here are the top 9 photos:

Here’s to another fun year of solving database problems!