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Short, practical posts on SQL and BigQuery — from core language features to advanced query patterns. A reference for data practitioners at every level.
BigQuery has always been a SQL engine for tabular data. Object tables add an interesting twist to that. Instead of rows containing values, an object table gives you one row per file — pointing at da
Ever run a heavy BigQuery SQL query, processed gigabytes of data — and then accidentally closed the tab or forgot to save the results? 😬 Don't re-run it. Your results are still there. BigQuery automa
You can use query parameters in BigQuery hashtag#SQL (now in the console as well!) — but how are they different from variables, and when should you use each? Both parameters and variables act as place
I was doing some exploratory data analysis on a number of tables I didn’t have much information about and, unfortunately, didn’t know their grain. I needed a quick way to validate my assumptions about the table grain, identify contradicting observati...
So I recently discovered the WITH expression in BigQuery SQL. Not to be confused with the WITH clause, which we use to define common table expressions (CTEs). 👉 What does a WITH expression do?It lets you define a series of variables, scoped to a sin...
Here’s another practical BigQuery SQL exercise 💡 Say you have an input SCD2-style table with [valid_from, valid_to) and key-value attributes. Now you want to determine which attributes were valid at the same time for a given grain (e.g. id). To do t...
