Chad Baldwin chadbaldwin

Falsehoods programmers believe about time

This is a compiled list of falsehoods programmers tend to believe about working with time.

Don't re-invent a date time library yourself. If you think you understand everything about time, you're probably doing it wrong.

Falsehoods

There are always 24 hours in a day.
February is always 28 days long.
Any 24-hour period will always begin and end in the same day (or week, or month).

PowerShell execute command with arguments safely

In my opinion this is the best way for executing external commands from PowerShell with arguments in a safe manner - via the use of an array to hold the arguments.

Consider this one a PowerShell gem to keep in the toolbox.

Note

The example below makes use of EchoArgs.exe - a small utility that simply echoes back arguments passed to it. Utility is part of the PowerShell Community Extensions, or the exe alone can be downloaded at https://ss64.com/ps/EchoArgs.exe.

	<#
	.SYNOPSIS
	Watches text files for changes and prints the specified number of lines from the end of the file.

	.DESCRIPTION
	This function monitors a set of text files for changes and prints the content to the console.
	Each line printed is prefixed by the filename.

	.PARAMETER Paths
	An array of paths to text files to monitor. This parameter is mandatory.

	IF OBJECT_ID('dbo.ErrorHandler') IS NULL BEGIN
	EXEC ('CREATE PROCEDURE dbo.ErrorHandler AS BEGIN SELECT 1; END;');
	END
	GO

	--our error handling procedure
	ALTER PROCEDURE dbo.ErrorHandler @procName NVARCHAR(128), @ErrorMessage NVARCHAR(4000) OUTPUT, @ErrorSeverity INT OUTPUT, @ErrorState INT OUTPUT
	AS
	BEGIN
	/* declare sessions keys that are safe for multiple sessions on a single connection */

	// This file was initially generated by Windows Terminal Preview 1.1.1812.0
	// It should still be usable in newer versions, but newer versions might have additional
	// settings, help text, or changes that you will not see unless you clear this file
	// and let us generate a new one for you.

	// To view the default settings, hold "alt" while clicking on the "Settings" button.
	// For documentation on these settings, see: https://aka.ms/terminal-documentation
	{
	"$schema": "https://aka.ms/terminal-profiles-schema",

	version: "3"
	services:
	# pihole
	pihole:
	container_name: pihole
	image: pihole/pihole:latest
	restart: always
	privileged: true
	ports:
	- "53:53/tcp"

	hass:account
	hass:alert
	hass:alert-circle
	hass:altimeter
	hass:apple-safari
	hass:apps
	hass:arrow-bottom-left
	hass:arrow-down
	hass:arrow-left
	hass:arrow-right

 # Modify T-SQL scripts to replace database name in 3-part object names with specified value using T-SQL script DOM.
 param (
     # Path to folder containing the scripts to modify. Files with .sql extension in this folder and subfolders will be processed.
     $scriptFolderPath = "C:\source\repos\DatabaseProjects\AdventureWorks2014",
     # Original database name to replace.
     $originalDatabaseName = "AdventureWorks2014",
     # New database name or SQLCMD variable name.
     $newDatabaseName = "[`$(DatabaseName)]",
     # Location of Microsoft.SqlServer.TransactSql.ScriptDom.dll assembly.

	CREATE DATABASE [٠০౦০٠];
	GO
	USE [٠০౦০٠];
	GO
	CREATE SCHEMA [٠০౦০٠];
	GO
	CREATE TABLE [٠০౦০٠].[٠০౦০٠]([٠০౦০٠] NVARCHAR(20), [۰০౦০٠] NVARCHAR(20), [٠০౦০۰] NVARCHAR(20), [۰০౦০۰] NVARCHAR(20));
	GO
	CREATE UNIQUE CLUSTERED INDEX [٠০౦০٠] ON [٠০౦০٠].[٠০౦০٠]([٠০౦০٠], [۰০౦০٠], [٠০౦০۰], [۰০౦০۰]);
	GO

Chad Baldwin chadbaldwin

Falsehoods programmers believe about time

Falsehoods

PowerShell execute command with arguments safely

Example