Book of Red Gate 2010 - Red Gate Software

1. 

3. 

5. 

7. 

9. 

11. 

2. 

4. 

6. 

8. 

10. 

12.

13. 

15. 

17. 18. 

19. 

21. 

14. 

16. 

20. 

1. SQL Compare 2. SQL Backup 3. SQL Data Compare 4. SQL Response 5. SQL Prompt 

6. SQL Data Generator 7. SQL Log Rescue 8. SQL Multi Script 9. SQL Object Level Recovery 

10. SQL Packager 11. SQL Search 12. SQL Comparison SDK 13. SQL Dependency Tracker 14. SQL Doc 

16. ANTS Memory Profiler 17. ANTS Performance Profiler 18. Exception Hunter 19 .NET Reflector 

20. Smart Assembly 21. Exchange Server Archiver

The Book of Red Gate 

2010

This here book is a bath. So please, go natural, hop in, 

and gently steam yourself to the texture of dimsum. 

With any luck, when you get out twenty minutes later 

you’ll be covered in bits of Red Gate that are really hard 

to get off. 

Friends, colleagues, future colleagues, enjoy your soak 

now! In The Book of Red Gate!

“I’m sick of hearing 

about Red Gate” 

One of the few negative things about working at Red Gate is 

that sooner or later all your friends become tired of hearing 

about how it’s such a great company. It’s almost an embarrassing 

subject to raise now, a taboo. You’re sitting in a pub 

with your friends, and you just can’t help yourself; you find 

you’re telling them about a day out building a catapult as a 

Celtic warrior, yet another champagne celebration, painting 

mugs or eggs or t-shirts, the silhouette artist, the amazing 

roast beef you had for lunch etc. etc. And you get ‘that look’. 

The look that says - You’re not supposed to rave enthusiastically 

about where you work. Work is a source of complaint; 

it’s something we tolerant begrudgingly and then bitch about 

over a pint. Eventually, someone will ask – “What is so great 

about Red Gate anyway?” 

It’s a good question. What makes Red Great such a great place 

to work? Occasionally, you try to explain, but find yourself 

incoherently gushing about ‘culture’ and ‘fun’ and ‘ping pong’ 

in a wide-eyed and rather creepy evangelical manner. And 

people again give you ‘that look’. 

So, how can you explain what makes Red Gate the place that 

it is? It’s not just about the free lunches and table football and 

5

welly wanging . It’s more than painting cartoon characters of 

everyone on the walls. It’s something other than five-a-side 

football, squash, running, yoga, Japanese, cooking club, massages. 

It’s not the crazy questions (and answers) on the white 

board. It’s not the occasionally bizarre forum threads about 

dishwasher tablets or Christmas cracker jokes. It’s deeper than 

great Xmas parties and Summer days out. 

Maybe you can find the essence of Red Gate in the way we 

approach our work…. How many genuinely open, collaborative, 

transparent companies are there, that actually practise 

what they preach about “no politics” and “do what works”, 

that are built around a spirit of restless creativity, forward 

momentum and optimistic evolution…. where everyone’s 

contribution is listened to and valued….? There I go again. 

I’ve drunk the Kool-aid. I’m wearing the (various) t-shirts, 

I’m singing the company song, I’m eating the company 

breakfast… 

The truth is, there is no way to capture the quality that makes 

Red Gate the company it is, any more than you can bottle 

sunshine. Red Gate is all of the things in this book and more; 

it’s greater than the sum of its parts. 

But (as the actress said to the bishop) what great parts there 

are. So, to anyone who’s curious about what makes us tick, 

this book is a good place to start. “What is so great about Red 

Gate?” 

Everything. 

6

Red Gate Photo 

Album 

7

What we believe in #1/13 

You will be reasonable 

with us. 

9

We will be reasonable 

with you. 

We’re all trying to treat each other as we would like 

to be treated in the same circumstances. Sometimes 

the circumstances are difficult, but we will all still be 

reasonable. 

10

UI Gallery 

11

13 

"I raised an issue with Red Gate regarding 

functionality in their SQL Compare product… 

and a couple of months later the items 

identified had been rewritten. The new 

version was better than I expected. In short 

both the product and its authors, Red Gate, 

are exceptional in their field." 

Abbas Ali SQL Server DBA 

"I really appreciate so many things 

about Red Gate... The tools are top 

notch. I use at least one every single day. 

The pricing is very reasonable, and - best 

of all - is the customer support. I get quick 

answers to all my questions from a 

knowledgeable and professional staff 

member. Such a departure from the industry 

as a whole. I’ll be a customer for quite a 

long time." 

Steve Gray MCDBA Vice President, 4Penny.net

"No production .NET software should ever 

be released without being reviewed in ANTS 

Profiler – it’s just that good. Really, I love it. 

You guys have done great work." 

Matt Lavallee Director of Technology, MLS Property 

Information Network, Inc. 

"Whenever I show people any Red Gate 

software it’s like they just escaped 

communist Russia and have a new life 

to live." 

Scott Cowan Senior Engineer, Sportinginsider.com 

"Red Gate’s SQL Data Generator has 

overnight become the principal tool 

we use for loading test data to run our 

performance and load tests" 

Grant Fritchey Principal DBA, FM Global 

14

Red Gate's 

Video Lovelies 

15

Code of the Year 2009 

Heaps of astonishingly good engineering is created and 

French polished by hand at Red Gate every year. We’ve 

decided to celebrate this and from a field of seven entrants, 

Neil ‘First Coder’ Davidson managed to pick the winner of the 

Golden Brackets Trophy 2009, “because it has lots of complicated-looking 

shit in it and it’s better than Rob’s solution (which 

I’m assuming was awesome)”. 

This is (part of) the code that allows us to put blue blobs on the object 

explorer in SQL Source Control. 

This bit of code is clever because the first two approaches we took to solve 

this problem were completely different (Rob and Elliot’s proof of concepts), 

and we eventually settled on this approach because it should cause 

the least problems for SSMS: it already expects there to be many different 

kinds of builders for the different types of nodes in the tree, and therefore 

it shouldn’t cause SSMS to deadlock, crash, or misbehave in other ways. 

Finally, I like it because it has an anonymous delegate, 

a lambda function, a bug was found and fixed in it (follow the SOC 

number), it uses our own wrapping around both the C# locking and the 

reflection APIs, it uses the Set class from Shared.Utils, and even though 

it’s fairly short it provides rather a lot of the start-of-day functionality 

that is needed for blue blobs. 

Cheers, 

David Simner 

17

Type type = Type.GetType(c_TheType, true); 

object typeAndNodeRegistrationHelper = 

source.GetService(type); 

IList typeBuilders = ReflectionUtils.GetFieldValue 

(typeAndNodeRegistrationHelper, 

“childTypes”); 

if (typeBuilders != null) 

{ 

LockingUtils.TryLock(typeBuilders, delegate 

{ 

Set seenBuilders = 

new Set(); 

for (int i=typeBuilders.Count-1; i>=0; --i) 

{ 

object typeBuilder = typeBuilders[i]; 

bool seen = false; 

ReflectionUtils.UpdateFieldValue 

(typeBuilder, 

“builder”, oldBuilder => 

{ 

IQueryProvider proxiedBuilder = 

m_ObjectExplorer.GetQueryProviderProxy( 

oldBuilder); 

seen = ! seenBuilders.AddIfNotExists( 

proxiedBuilder); 

return proxiedBuilder; 

}); 

if (seen) 

{ 

typeBuilders.RemoveAt(i); //SOC-130 

} 

} 

}); 

} 

Runners Up: 

David Connell, Simon Cooper, Andrew 

Hunter, Konstantin Vorozcovs 

(All code submissions available in the 

Appendix of the ebook version) 

18


Attempt to do the best 

work of your life. 

19

We’d like you to achieve your own greatness and to 

be all that you can be. We’ll try hard to allow that to 

happen and we’d like you to try hard too. 

20

I worked for Red 

Gate and all I got 

was this lousy 

T-shirt 

21 

red gate's 1 st 

joined 12/10/1999

DONT PANIC! 

www.red-gate.com 

22

Languages spoken 

at Red Gate 

WW 

CB 

LL 

MB 

LH 

AD 

RB 

EA 

PS 

RM 

RL 

RFC 

KV 

SD 

French 

German 

Italian 

Spanish 

Russian 

Portuguese 

Hindi 

Marathi 

Gujrathi 

Korean 

Japanese 

Hungarian 

Latvian 

Bocce 

Australian 

24

25 

JW SC DKJ PW AH RB TS CT AD JC BR JM RC SD MT RB 

Algol –S, Algol 60 

Assembler 

• 6502/Z80 

• 68k 

• Alpha 

• ARM 

• DACTL 

• Mips 

• PIC 

• SPARC 

• Ten15 

• x86/x64 

Bash 

Basic 

C 

C# 

C++ 

Clojure 

F# 

Fortran 

Haskell 

Hope

Inform 

Java 

Javascript 

LISP 

ML 

MSIL 

Objective-C 

Pascal 

Perl 

PHP 

PROLOG 

Python 

RPG 

Ruby 

Scala 

Scheme 

Smalltalk 

SQL 

TCL 

VB/VBA 

VBScript 

VERILOG 

XSLT 

26


Motivation isn’t about 

carrots and sticks. 

27

Constant oversight and the threat of punishment are 

incompatible with great, fulfilling work. We believe in 

creating appropriate constraints and then giving people 

the freedom to excel. 

28

Charity 

begins at 

work! 

A selection of posters 

from our charitable 

activity days 

29

1999 

1999 

2000 

2000 

2001 

2002 

Jun 2000 Dec 2000 Feb 2003 

2001 

2002 

2003 

2003 

2004 

2004

2005 

2005 

2006 

2006 

2007 

2008 

2008 

2009 

Sep 2005 Jul 2006 Dec 2006 

2007 

2009 

2010 

2010

A Meeting without 

an Objective is a 

Chat 

A Chat without a Meeting is the Best Way to Get 

Things Done 

A Chicken without an Egg is God 

An XX without a Y is a Lady 

A sentence without a point is a... 

An X-Factor without a Y-ning contestant is a 

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz 

A meeting without seating is fleeting 

A camel without a hump is a llama 

A market without a product is a possibility 

A board without a chair is a narchy 

33

Dear Franke Kaffeemaschinen AG Evolution Coffee 

Machine, 

I’m running a major division, and I’m interested in applying 

some Kaizen or even Genchi Genbutsu methodologies to the 

functional workstream silos, but I’m not sure what metrical 

analyses would best leverage a productivity gain? Now I’m 

worried that these business ideas may have been superceded 

by the Korean Inhwa approach or even the Chinese emphasis 

on Guanxi. I really need some Zen insight to show me 

the right path to follow. 

Crocodile Shoes, 

Red Gate 

Dear Crocodile Shoes, 

Missing coffee outlet. 

Ask the Coffee 

Machine 

Franke Kaffeemaschinen AG Evolution Coffee Machine 

34


Our best work 

is done in teams. 

35

We work in groups and towards a common goal. 

The company is more important than the team, 

and the team is more important than the individual. 

36

The Red Gate Sales 

Global Domination 

Challenge 

Below is the list of countries that, at the time of print, 

have not been sold to. Can you be the first to sell there? 

Andorra 

Anguilla 

Angola 

Antarctica 

Belarus 

Belize 

Benin 

Bhutan 

Botswana 

Bouvet Island 

British Indian Ocean Territory 

Burkina Faso 

Burundi 

Chad 

Christmas Island 

Cocos (Keeling) Islands 

Comoros 

Congo, The Democratic 

Republic Of The 

37 

Congo 

Cook Islands 

Cote D’ivoire 

Cuba 

Dominica 

Eritrea 

Ethiopia 

Falkland Islands (Malvinas) 

French Guiana 

French Southern Territories 

French Polynesia 

Federated States Of Micronesia 

Gabon 

Guinea 

Equatorial Guinea 

Guinea-Bissau 

Guyana 

Heard And Mc Donald Islands 

Iraq

Kiribati 

Lesotho 

Liberia 

Libyan Arab Jamahiriya 

Macau S. A. R. 

Madagascar 

Malawi 

Maldives 

Mali 

Marshall Islands 

Martinique 

Mauritania 

Mayotte 

Mongolia 

Montenegro 

Montserrat 

Mozambique 

Myanmar 

Namibia 

Nauru 

Niger 

Niue 

Norfolk Island 

Palau 

Papua New Guinea 

Paraguay 

Pitcairn 

Reunion 

Rwanda 

Saint Kitts And Nevis 

Saint Vincent And The Grenadines 

Samoa 

San Marino 

Sao Tome And Principe 

Senegal 

Seychelles 

Sierra Leone 

Solomon Islands 

Somalia 

South Georgia And The South 

Sandwich Islands 

St. Helena 

St. Pierre And Miquelon 

Sudan 

Svalbard And Jan Mayen Islands 

Syrian Arab Republic 

Tajikistan 

Togo 

Tokelau 

Tonga 

Turks And Caicos Islands 

Turkmenistan 

Tuvalu 

Uzbekistan 

Wallis And Futuna Islands 

Yemen 

Zambia 

Zimbabwe 

38

From The Red Gate 

Menu... 

Roasted Red Snapper with 

Cherry Tomato Salsa 

Ingredients (serves 2) 

1. 2 tablespoons olive oil 

2. 2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil 

3. 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice 

4. 1 cup small cherry tomatoes, halved 

5. 1/3 cup chopped red onion 

6. 1 teaspoon minced jalapeno chili with seeds 

7. 1 teaspoon honey 

8. 4 x 4 ounce red snapper fillets 

Method 

1. Preheat oven to 400º F. 

Whisk oil, 1 tablespoon basil and lime juice in 

medium bowl to blend. 

Transfer 1 ½ tablespoons dressing to small bowl and 

reserve for fish. 

Mix remaining 1 tablespoon basil, tomatoes, onion, 

jalapeno and honey into dressing in medium bowl. 

Season salsa with salt and pepper. 

39

2. Lightly brush a small baking sheet with oil. 

Sprinkle both sides of fish with salt and pepper. 

Arrange fish on prepared sheet; brush with reserved 

1 ½ tablespoons dressing. 

Roast fish for about 10 minutes, until just opaque 

in center. 

Transfer fish to 2 plates. Spoon salsa alongside 

and serve. 

40

124,618 

Copies of SQL Compare in the wild 

237 

people hired since 2000 3 

57 

people hired in 2009 

from a total of 

486 interviews 

3,354 

Job applications received last year, 

41 

congratulations new starters! 

minutes 

to 

evacuate the 

office during a 

fire alarm 

41,600 

main meals consumed per year in the Servery 

124 

Countries that Red Gate products 

have been sold in, and there are 

where 


products have 

96Countries 

not yet been sold 

9,360 

17,000 

PG Tips teabags used in the last year 

individual post-it 

notes used in the last year

1200 

boxes of cereal 

crunched in 2009 

24,271 

cups of coffee dispensed by the SQL 

Servery coffee machine in its first year 

£2860 

raised for charity last year 

1 

interview 

interrupted by 

an exploding 

light bulb 

3 

trophies broken 

accidentally by 

interviewer 

during interview 

75 

whiteboards 

of milk 

downed 

in 2009 

1piece of furniture 

accidentaly destroyed by 

interview candidates 

42 

10,000bottles


Don’t be an asshole. 

43

No matter how smart you are, or how good you are at 

narrowly defined tasks, there is no room for you here if 

you’re an asshole. 

44

45 

"I was amazed before my first day about 

the response time to my e-mails: I sent a 

CV, I received an answer the following day 

with an exercise to do. I sent the assessment 

back, and again, I got an interview 

arranged on the following day. I came for 

the interview and I got told the outcome 

the same day. That was truly unbelievable." 

New Starter 

"Woohoooo!!!! Kim you rock!!!! 

Both my customer and I thank 

you. Keep in touch with me and I'll 

bring you a bottle of Napa's finest." 

Customer for Kim Moss 

"Tech support & facilities people 

have been ace at sorting out 

my equipment, software and lots 

of other hassles I came up with" 

New Starter

"Have a nice weekend and take 

joy in the fact that it was your 

outstanding customer support and 

personal call that got you my business. 

Have an extra pint for a well 

done job! ;)" 

Niklas Winde for Steve Harris 

"Josh, you should feel good that you 

have helped a struggling developer get 

closer to his goal of world domination… 

Thank you for all of your help, if ever I am 

in Cambridge I will buy you a pint or 6!" 

P Gossip for Josh Robertson 

"Your excellent service level is 

highly appreciated!" 

Gary Smeulders for Michael Austridge 

"Lovely offices, very welcoming 

and friendly people" 

Interview Candidate 

46

47 

01.00 

Dutch Harbour 

Brad McGehee 

02.00 

Juneau 

03.00 

PASS 

PDC 

04.00 

Steve Jones 

Los Angeles 

05.00 

TechEd 

Mexico City 

06.00 

Bob Cramblitt 

New Orleans 

Washington, D.C. 

07.00 

08.00 

Brasilia 

Buenos Aires 

09.00 

10.00 

Reykjavik 

11.00 

SQL Bits 

London 

PASS E 

12.00

urope 

Berlin 

BAFANA BAFANA 

Pretoria 

Moscow 

Tehran 

Abu Dhabi 

New Delhi 

Dhaka 

Bangkok 

Peter Yeoh 

Kuala Lumpur 

Canberra 

13.00 14.00 15.00 16.00 17.00 18.00 19.00 20.00 21.00 22.00 23.00 00.00 

Beijing 

Tokyo 

Wellington 

48

What our customers 

say 

49

What our staff say 

50


Get the right 

stuff done. 

51

We admire people who get stuff done. While there’s a 

place for planning, thinking and process it is better to 

try - and try well - and fail than not to try at all. 

52

As the train glided into Cambridge station, I realized the 

time had come to discover the reality behind the carefullyconstructed 

image, surely dreamed up by marketing 

experts. Simple-Talk: the vociferous editorial meetings 

by donnish geeks in the Cambridge pub, the strange, 

outrageous, antics of regular writers such as Phil Factor 

and Robyn Page, and the beer-drinking of Tony Davis. 

Soon, I told myself, I’d see the reality behind the myth; 

the slick office; the quiet unhurried efficiency that had 

brought Simple-Talk to its present popularity, rivaling the 

leading sites for the industry. Regularly read by around 

half a million IT professionals. 

The taxi took me to a pub, the Waggon and Horses. In 

walked Tony Davis, the Editor in Chief, cursing amiably 

in broad estuary dialect. Soon we were settling down to 

a large bowl of chips, and several pints of a strange dark 

beer called Skull-Splitter. Suddenly, in burst Phil Factor, 

dressed in shepherd’s costume, baying for his special jug; 

his white hair and walrus mustache windswept, 

followed soon after by Chris, the matinee idol, still 

bleary-eyed from his night’s thespian exertions. A strange 

conversation ensued, involving finite state automata, 

which became louder and more heated. Although regular 

53

customers smiled indulgently, pale faces in the distance 

indicated a growing nervousness about the outcome of 

the discussion. Then, suddenly, at the door stood Alice 

‘The Spike’ Smith, looking at her watch and frowning 

at the editorial discussion. 

In the taxi home, I absently picked the slivers of broken 

bottle from my hair, reflecting on the strange way that 

myth and reality coincided. What a strange formula for 

success: an obsession with quality, plain English, technical 

accuracy, good presentation, animated discussions, 

beer and chips. 

Andrew 

504,750 registered users. 

14,500 visits every weekday. 

7,343,426 visits in last three years. 

Monthly visits to Simple Talk 

54


Books 

55

Nine years. 

It's been nearly nine years since SQLServerCentral 

was started with a poor business decision on the 

part of Database Journal, for whom I still could be 

writing. I remember walking around my basement, 

talking on the phone with the other founders, looking 

for a quiet spot while the toddlers upstairs seemed 

to be locating the exact spot over my head before 

jumping up and down. I made it through the call and 

SQLServerCentral was born. 

The early days consisted of a lot of coding, 

constant writing and answering questions. 

It seemed that each of us was working two jobs, 

working long hours, and often feeling the pressure 

to get an article done for a newsletter. 

A few months into the job I felt it was a grind, and 

I tried something creative. Instead of putting an 

announcement in the middle of the newsletter, 

I wrote a short piece on some aspect of SQL Server. 

There wasn't much to it, but it became the daily 

editorial. I was never sure if anyone was reading it 

57

since I had no place for feedback. Needless to say I 

was stunned at the PASS Summit when quite a few 

people mentioned it to me. Since then I've grown to 

enjoy it as my favorite part of the job. 

Steve 

1,202,581 registered users. 

46,000 visits every weekday. 

27,914,300 visits in last three years. 

Monthly visits to SQL Server Central 

58

Tat's what I call a 

testimonial 

59


Visible misteaks are a 

sign that we are a 

healthy organisation. 

61

What we do is very difficult, the current situation is 

hard to understand and the future is uncertain. 

Mistakes are an inevitable consequence of attempting 

to get the right stuff done. Unless we can make mistakes 

visible both individually and collectively we will be 

doomed to mediocrity. 

62

B.H.A.G 

“To be one of the greatest software companies in the world” 

63


Machine 


Machine, 

In mscorlib on x64 machines, under System.Internal, there 

are three methods CommonlyUserGenericInstantiations_ 

HACK(), NullableHelper_HACK()and SZArrayHelpers_HACK(SZArrayHelper).CommonlyUserGenericInstantiations_HACK 

has a lengthy implementation, which 

just creates an instance of all the commonly used generic 

types: 

Can you please explain what is going on with these 

methods? 

Yrs, 

Intrigued of .NET division 

Dear Intrigued of .NET division, 

Please wait... heating. 

No milk. 


64

65 

"SQL Prompt is one of the indispensable 

tools in my daily programming life. I find 

myself cutting through my work like a hot 

knife through butter." 

Jeremy Simmons 

"Thank you (and to the rest of the Red 

Gate team) for putting on an excellent 

recruitment open evening yesterday 

afternoon. It was really interesting 

touring the offices and seeing the various 

product demonstrations, and the 

opportunity to meet and talk to various 

Red Gate employees was invaluable. 

The atmosphere was really light-hearted, 

friendly and welcoming, and you all seem 

rightly proud of Red Gate, its products 

and its achievements. I'll be submitting 

my application to join Red Gate shortly!" 

Recruitment Evening Attendee

"I have to say you're doing a stellar job 

of turning this around so quickly. And 

you're managing to keep a calm head 

about you – well done!" 

"THANK YOU! You have saved 

me probably umpteen hours 

worth of digging and searching." 

Eichmann for Michael Austridge 

"This might just be THE BEST 

THING I'VE EVER SEEN. 

Amazing work." 

"Perfect. Both activations. All I 

can say is you guys rock!" 

Todd Robinson for Daniel Mooney 

"What a fantastic office and culture 

you have, I'd love to work here." 

Interview Candidate 

66


No politics. 

67

No gossiping, no intrigue, no pussy-footing around 

problems and no telling people what you think they 

want to hear whilst privately disagreeing. We will be 

transparent in our dealings. 

68

...you realise that Red Gate 

Towers shuts down over the 

Winter, and is completely 

isolated from the outside 

world? 

Some have found the 

loneliness... difficult... 

in the past... 

Very well. Your CV is excellent, 

so the job is yours. There are 

a few things you need to know 

to be our Winter caretaker. Are 

you ready to take notes? 

Firstly, make sure the doors 

are all closed. And do not 

let any children on the first 

floor. And above all... on 

no account enter the SQL 

Servery! 

Just don't go 

in there, OK? 

See you later in the 

year. Goodbye... 

69 

Got it. But why? 

OK. Thank you very 

much. I'm sure I'll 

love the splendid 

isolation here, Sir. 

I'm ready. Fire away 

I'm aware of the stories, if 

that's what you're referring 

to. I'm looking forward to the 

peace and quiet. I'm sure I'll 

get along just fine, Sir. 

So... This is it. The job at Red Gate 

is mine. Just what I need to get 

over my recent problems...

Day 2 

Day 1 

Day 21 

Time to explore. Hmm... 

No kids coming up here. 

Good. Hmm, it's a long way 

down to reception... 

Hey... what's that down 

there in reception?! 

Oh. Nothing. I thought I saw 

something for a moment. 

It's so quiet. 

Nobody is here 

all quiet so far. 

Sure is deserted around here... 

Nice offices. 

End of my first week. 

All quiet so far. This floor makes a 

funny noise when I trot along it. 

And the colour of the floor 

looks a little like... 

God, I'm bored. 

My name is Spider. 

Spider the pig. 

I hope I don't forget 

my own name. 

Day 7 

blood. 

70

Day 24 

Money in... 

The 

chocolate is 

teetering but 

not falling. 

Come on! 

Come on! 

I NEED my 

chocolate... 

Food supplies are still adequate. 

I can purchase my favourite 

"Porkie" chocolate bar with the 

money I found in my slit. 

Hello? 

press the button... 

Is anyone here? 

anyone else here? 

71 

NO! 

HELLO? 

Day 26 

There's definitely something 

down there. I can hear voices. 

They're saying something 

like "red rum... red rum..." 

No. Wait. They 're saying "bread... 

crumbs, bread...crumbs." 

Yikes! It sounds like someone is 

planning to turn me into a fried 

pork escalope coated in 

breadcrumbs! 

I'm Spider. Come and 

find me in Horses... 

Stupid Spider! Think! 

Wait.. no! I don't want 

them to find me! 

I need somewhere to HIDE!

...Hah! 

Later... 

They'll never think of 

looking for me here. 

I need to calm down 

Maybe this film of 

Spider-Pig will help 

me relax. 

Doh, I just photocopied 

my own tail. Silly Spider. 

72

Day 27 

that didn't work. 

I should go and work 

on my novel. 

Yes, time to do some 

writing. Ahh, lovely 

therapeutic writing. 

HEE HEE! 

What's that? 

73 

I 'M THE KING OF 

RED GATE 

IN MY SHINY 

SPARKLY HA T! 

I RULE!! 

I'm just the 

caretaker? 

I am NOT the 

caretaker. 

I AM TOP PIG! 

All work and no play makes Spider a dull piggy 

All workand no play makes Spider a dull piggy 

All work and no play 

makes Spider a dull piGgy 

All work and no pla y makesspider a dull piggy 

All work and no play maKes Spider a d u l l piggy 

All work an dno play maKes SPIDER a dull pigg y 

I'm going to the SQL Servery. 

I can hear something in there 

Yes, yes. I'm coming... 

I'm coming...

Then... 

Hah hah hah! 

I knew it. 

I'm NOT alone. 

Here's my best buddy, 

"K" the guy that lives 

on the other side of 

the ping pong table. 

He's always been here. 

So... finally... 

Here they 

all are 

I'm where I 

belong now... 

frozen for 

all time in this 

mural with the 

others... 

What's that K? 

You say I'm not crazy? 

And that my serve is a 

"cheating serve"? I'll 

show you.. take that! 

My friends. 

They've always 

been here. 

always been here... 

always been here... 

74


Do the right things for 

our customers. 

75

We believe that if we do what is right for our customers 

then we will thrive. 

76

Red Gate Clubs 

and Activities 

Sport 

Football 

Monday evenings, 5-a-side 

Jon.Hudson@red-gate.com 

Squash 

Tuesday lunchtimes 

Reka.Burmeister@red-gate.com 

Yoga 

Monday lunchtimes 

Cara.Creek@red-gate.com 

Running ~ 10km 

Week lunchtimes 

Clive.Tong@red-gate.com 

Running ~ 5km 

Tues & Thurs evenings 

Dominick.Reed@red-gate.com 

Other Clubs & Activities 

Tennis 

Cooking club 

PhotoClub 

Book club 

Crossword club 

Board games night 

Video games night 

Japanese lessons 

French lessons 

Massages 

Ping pong 

Table football 

Cricket nets 

Histon FC 

Poker 

Sketching club 

For further information: 

http://intranet/wiki/index.php/Social_Club 

77

Running Club - 5km 

Route Map 

Science Park 

Milton Tesco 

Red Gate Software 

Milton Country Park 

Route 

Road 

Key 

Science & Business Parks 

Milton Country Park 

Point of Interest 

78

Happy Tweets 

A small selection of what twitter is saying about us. 

79 

codypo 

Holy cow, I might have to propose marriage to the 

Red Gate ANTS Profiler. This is wonderful 

holytshirt 

@scottgal Redgate SQL compare, can’t beat it 

erikvb 

@ojooris #red-gate makes great tools, some of 

which are free. Their non free tools are worth 

every penny IMHO 

julielermanvt 

oooh yet another tool from Red Gate that I wished 

I’d had for years now. Lets you search throughout 

db objects. http://bit.ly/2ZPFcm 

BobSzymanski 

Red Gate has the best SQL Server tools on the 

planet. I highly recommend their developer 

toolbelt.

thompsont 

ANTS Memory Profiler by RedGate has been a life 

saver tonight! Used it to track down a memory 

leak in a WCF service...woohoo!!! 

jonathansheely 

I would kill for a copy of Redgate SQL Compare 

right now =\ 

hugeonion 

dang the @redgate profiling tools are cool and 

useful! you really should give them a try if you are 

a .NET developer 

arlynasch 

RedGate Software makes powerful tools that are 

easy and simply work. Why can’t more software be 

like that? 

whimsql 

Just left Redgate booth they are made of awesome. 

Headed to room 2AB to learn about PowerPivot. :) 

#sqlbingo Having a blast at #sqlpass 

fatherjack 

Just recovered a single table from last backup 

without restoring the whole database. Thanks 

SQL Backup with Object Level Recovery #redgate 

80

Red Gate Pub Quiz 

Here’s a selection of questions from the 

notorious Red Gate Pub Quizzes. Can you beat Nick? 

General Knowledge 

1. Which popular card game contains exactly the same 

letters as a contemporary American comedy actor? 

2. What fictional character links Arnold 

Schwarzenegger, Danny De Vito, Tommy Lee Jones, 

Jim Carrey, Uma Thurman and Cillian Murphy? 

3. Where would you find the following sequence of 

letters D-G Reg F D ? 

Celebrities - The following people are more commonly 

known by their stage names. Who are they? 

1. Cherilyn Sarkisian (actress) 

2. Frederick Austerlitz (actor) 

3. Laurence Tureaud (actor) 

81 

Score: 

Score:

Picture Round - Who, what, and where are the following? 

1. 2. 3. 

Wipeout Round - Any incorrect answers will result in a score 

of zero for this round! 

1. Which country’s national football team has the 

nickname Bafana Bafana? 

2. The name of which country is derived from the Latin 

word for Southern? 

3. How many bridges does the University boat race go 

under? 

Score: 

The answers to these questions are 

hidden throughout the book. If you 

use Google to cheat, Nick will be sad. 

Final Score: 

Score:


Profits are only a way of 

keeping score, 

not the game itself. 

83

Focusing purely on the numbers is a sure way to kill Red 

Gate’s culture. We believe that if we focus on the game 

– building awesome products that people want to buy, 

and then persuading them to buy them – then success 

will follow. 

84

Lost in a Fug 

SQL Tools 

DBA Tools 

.NET Tools 

Exchange 

Product Support 

Information Systems 

Marketing 

85

Thank you, 

If I could change anything about Red Gate, 

it would be: 

Dear Neil & Simon,

Neil & Simon 

Dear 

fold


We will succeed if 

we build wonderful, 

useful products. 

93

Shipping something amazing is better than creating 

something average and to budget and on time. 

We cannot market, sell, manage or account our way 

to success. 

94


Machine 


Machine, 

I’m a developer on an exciting new product here at Red 

Gate, and I sometimes find that I have difficulty concentrating 

due to the level of background gunfire in my project 

team. I don’t want to offend anyone by asking them all to 

put their weapons away, but on the other hand I’m worried 

that if I don’t raise the issue people will think I am too slow 

at coding because I can’t always focus due to the noise. 

What do you advise? 

XKCD fan, West Wing 

Dear XKCD fan, 

Drawer full. Empty drawer. 


95

Top Bug Hunters 

SQL Search 

Most Bugs: David Simner 

Robin Hellen 

SQL Prompt 

Best Bugs: Simon Jackson 

Chris George 

Most Bugs: Dom Reed Best Bugs: Jason Crease 

ANTS Memory Profiler 

Most Bugs: Michelle Taylor 

SQL Compare 8 

Most Bugs: Simon Jackson 

SQL Backup 

Most Bugs: Michelle Taylor 

David Connell 

96

Shadows of our 

former current selves 

97


We base our 

decisions on the 

available evidence, 

99

not on people’s opinions, the volume of their voices 

or who they are. When the evidence changes, we are 

prepared to change our minds. We will thank, and 

never shoot, the messenger. 

100

Clive's Code 

Completion Challenge 

Perhaps you’d like to have a go at answering the following 

C# questions. Some have a very simple answer and 

some have several possible answers, but I hope at least 

a few of them take a little thought and maybe even 

teach you something. 

Get all the answers right, put them in an email and send 

them to codechallenge@red-gate.com 

And there’s mystery prizes on offer. More than one 

available! 

1. I typed this into Visual Studio and it failed to 

compile. Which version was I using? 

static void Tree(T first, T second) 

{ 

} 

static void Main(string[] args) 

{ 

Tree(1, new object()); 

} 

101

2. Give a test case that shows this code is broken. 

static int BinarySearch(IList items, int 

target) 

{ 

int lower = 0; 

int upper = items.Count; 

while (lower != upper - 1) 

{ 

int mid = (lower + upper)/2; 

if (target < items[mid]) 

upper = mid; 

else 

lower = mid; 

} 

if (items[lower] == target) 

return lower; 

return -1; 

} 

3. This always throws an exception, right? 

A foo = null; 

foo.Bar(); 

Continued over the page... 

102

4. Fill in the … to make this valid 

… x = Part1(); 

Part2(x); 

5. I wrote this bit of code but before I got to run it, my 

friend refactored it. Was my version better? 

My version 

var results = new List(); 

for (int i = 0; i < 5; i++) 

{ 

} 

var j = 2*i; 

results.Add(() => j); 

results.ForEach(x => Console. 

WriteLine(x())); 

His version 

var results = new List(); 

for (int i = 0; i < 5; i++) 

{ 

results.Add(() => 2 * i); 

} 

results.ForEach(x => Console. 

WriteLine(x())); 

103

6. A friend told me that the following compiled, but 

then failed at runtime. His constructor didn’t throw 

an exception. Was he mad? 

A x = new A(); 

104

Coding by 

the Sea 

105

106


We count contribution, 

not hours. 

107

What you achieve is more important than how long 

it takes. 

108

A Short and off-thecuff 

prehistory of 


The best place to look for a long-term strategy might be where we 

were before we even started. This is a long way from being a genuine 

strategy but it’s a sort of building block. If we understand where we 

were originally, we might have a better chance of understanding 

where we want to go. “We were there, and now we’re wandering 

along in that direction and it kind of makes some sense that we 

might end up there.” 

Here is a school photo of us. 

This is the place where Neil and 

I met, aged sixteen. It’s one of 

those envy-inducing schools 

called Charterhouse that mean 

people ignore you at parties 

when you’re older. This photo 

has about a thousand people in 

it yet coincidentally we’re standing 

next to each other. We’re the 

really sophisticated looking guys 

circled. You can imagine that 

the girls always wanted to know 

us - in fact I don’t know why all 

109

the girls aren’t standing around us. 

Neil and I had a fairly solid idea right then that we wouldn’t mind 

going into business together. And the reason why I had that feeling 

was simple. I’d set up my first business when I was thirteen that 

involved delivering newspapers to the people in my village. 

The newspaper shop only delivered newspapers six days a week so 

there was a hole in the market. I’d knocked on a whole load of doors 

and after a few weeks I had a “round” – 30-40 houses who paid me 

between 15 – 30p per Sunday. Usually I earned more delivering just 

on Sundays as the other kids did working six days a week but sometimes 

for weeks on end I’d be out of pocket when people didn’t pay 

– a 13 year old learning the difference between cash-flow and profit 

first hand. A friend expressed an interest in having a round – so I 

knocked on another load of doors and set him up with a round too. 

There was something exhilarating about it being something I’d set 

up for myself and it was nice having an income but the day-to-day 

running of it didn’t need a team and that’s what was missing. 

Neil’s business was a hell of a lot better than that. He was writing 

software from the age of twelve and subsequently selling it. By the 

time I got to know Neil, he had assembled a small team of talented 

guys (story designer, author, others as needed and him) and was 

working on a game called Bounce (which later “inspired” Nokia to 

do a mobile version and put it on 40% of the world’s mobile phones). 

Neil worked on a business that scaled, that made the most of a 

talented team and that produced products that people were inspired 

by. Meanwhile I was saving someone from getting up a few minutes 

early and driving to the paper shop; all on my lonesome, in the rain. 

So I knew way back then that Neil was a guy to go into business 

110

with. We even collaborated on a brochure for a draft excluder busi- 

ness. Seeing my good friend in action inspired me further – one day 

we should go into business together. 

The point I’m trying to make is that it really hasn’t changed too 

much. The reason we’re in business together is that we want to 

work with people that we respect and admire and can learn from, 

and also to make it as easy as possible for those people to do brilliant 

things. So that’s what being in business together is really about : 

creating a company we can be proud of, and that other people can be 

proud of too, whether you’re an employee, a customer or a friend. 

So from that moment twenty years ago the notion of Red Gate was 

just about that really: Can we do something that makes a difference? 

That really uses some of our talents to the full? That other people 

couldn’t necessarily do? And build that company with a bunch of 

people we really want to be with? 

Ten years after that initial realisation of what we really wanted to do, 

we did set up Red Gate. 

And ten years after that, we’re here, which is a place we’re pretty 

proud to have reached. 

So what about ten years from now? 

111


Brand Guidelines


Brand Guidelines 

The following pages contain 

an introduction to Red Gate's 

marketing branding and style. 

While they are correct at the 

time of going to press, they 

are subject to change at any 

time. 

Please visit www.red-gate. 

com/about/Style_Guide.pdf 

to download a full and up to 

date copy of these guidelines. 

You can direct any other 

questions to 

marketing@red-gate.com. 

02

The Red Gate Logo 

Version Usage 

The Red Gate 

logo is key to 

the company's 

appearance. 

03 

It is therefore imperative 

that the logo is used only as 

described in this document, 

unless express permission is 

granted (on a case-by-case 

basis) by Red Gate's 

marketing department. 

Failure to use the Red Gate 

logo correctly and 

consistently will eventually 

weaken Red Gate’s brand.

The presence of the Red Gate 

logo on all marketing material 

is mandatory, and efforts have 

been made to provide a suitable 

logo for most potential 

uses. 

The primary version of the Red Gate 

logo uses the strap line "ingeniously 

simple tools", and is acceptable for 

use on any Red Gate material. 

This version of the logo features a 

different strap line, and is to be used 

on recruitment materials only. 

This version of the logo should be 

used in recruitment materials where 

space is limited, or in internal 

documents or products such as 

clothing. 

The Red Gate logo without any 

strap line is to be used only on 

materials where any of the above 

strap lines confuse or conflict the 

overall message. 

There are four versions of the 

Red Gate logo. Please note 

the circumstances that dictate 

the acceptable use of each 

version. 

There are also different colour 

versions of each logo, which 

are detailed in a later section 

of this guide. 

04


Clear Spacing 

Care should be taken to ensure that the Red Gate logo is 

allowed enough space from other layout elements, in order to 

maintain the impact and legibility of the logo. 

No photography, illustration, text, or any other graphic 

device should fall inside the clear area shown. 

05 

x x 

x


Positioning 

Where possible the Red Gate 

logo should always appear 

in the bottom right hand 

corner of any layout, whether 

for print or screen. The logo 

position should always take 

priority over other elements in 

the layout. 

If for any reason the Red 

Gate logo cannot be placed 

in the preferred position, use 

the locations shown, or your 

judgement, to determine the 

best position for the logo in 

your layout. 

Please note that while it is 

often preferable that the 

margins at all sides of the 

logo are of an equal distance, 

this is not essential providing 

that the minimum clear 

space described previously is 

adhered to. 

06

Red Gate Colours 

For Printed Media 

Use of the 

correct colour 

in Red Gate 

branding is 

essential. 

07 

Red Gate seeks to establish 

strong association of these 

colours with the Red Gate 

brand in markets that we’re 

active in. 

The consistent and correct 

use of colour in all Red Gate 

materials is mandatory, so 

that all communications 

materials can be instantly 

recognized. 

Shown opposite are the Red 

Gate brand colours for use in 

print in both spot and process 

inks. Please ensure that the 

correct colour is used for the 

appropriate printing process.

Primary Colours 

Pantone 186 

Pantone 

Process Black 

Secondary Colours 

80% Pantone 

Process Black 

60% Pantone 

Process Black 

C: 0% 

M: 100% 

Y: 81% 

K: 4% 

C: 0% 

M: 0% 

Y: 0% 

K: 100% 

C: 0% 

M: 0% 

Y: 0% 

K: 80% 

C: 0% 

M: 0% 

Y: 0% 

K: 60% 

08


For Screen Media 

Shown below are the Red Gate brand colours for use on screen. 

It is recommended that Hex values are used where possible. 

Primary Colours 

Hex: #cc0000 R: 204 

Secondary Colours 

G: 0 

B: 0 

Hex: #464646 R: 70 

09 

G: 70 

B: 70 

Hex: #000000 R: 0 

G: 0 

B: 0 

Hex: #7d7d7d R: 125 

G: 125 

B: 125



The Red Gate logo has 3 

colour options, which are 

shown below in their intended 

usage. Note that the colour 

relationship between logo and 

strap line must not be altered 

unless absolutely necessary. 

As our logo is most commonly 

used on materials created by 

Red Gate’s marketing department 

who will only use Red 

Gate’s brand colours, the Red 

Gate logo (and its variants) 

will only be provided in the 

colour options show below. 

In the event that the Red 

Gate logo is to be used on 

an off-brand colour, use your 

judgement to determine which 

colour option is the most legible 

for your needs, or email 

marketing@red-gate.com for 

advise. 

Red Gate w/ simple tools on red Red Gate w/ simple tools on black 

Red Gate w/ simple tools on grey Red Gate w/ simple tools on white 

10

The Speech Bubble 

For Print & Screen Media 

There are no hard and fast 

instructions for the line weight 

and corner radius of the 

Red Gate 'speech bubbles', 

however, some guidance can 

be offered. 

Opposite is an example of the 

preferred relationship between 

stroke weight, corner radius, 

indentation of text, and font 

size. 

The small bubbles opposite 

show a line weight and radius 

that are clearly incorrect. 

11 

The preferred sizing and 

spacing may not always be 

possible when the bubble is 

used in web banners, and in 

these cases the rules can be 

bent slightly. Reduction in 

corner radius and indentation 

of text is acceptable. 

Always use your judgement 

and if uncertain, please ask 

a member of the marketing 

department. Details of the 

typographic rules applied to 

speech bubbles are detailed 

overleaf. 

"Since introducing SQL Backup, our 

backup times have decreased to just 

over 2 hours. This is truly unbelievable." 

Martin Schoombee Medikredit Integrated Healthcare Solutions 

(Pty) Ltd

0.5X 

As the diagram shows, the 

measurement for cap height, 

text indentation, and corner 

radius should be equal (X). 

Stroke weight should be one 

half of that measurement 

(0.5X). 

Examples of incorrect bubbles 

X 

X 

"Since introduci 

backup times ha 

over 2 hours. Th 

Martin Schoombee Med 

(Pty) Ltd 

"Since introducing SQL Backup, our backup 

times have decreased to just over 2 hours. 

This is truly unbelievable." 

Martin Schoombee Medikredit Integrated Healthcare Solutions (Pty) Ltd 

"Since introducing SQL Backup, our backup 

times have decreased to just over 2 hours. 

This is truly unbelievable." 

Martin Schoombee Medikredit Integrated Healthcare 

Solutions (Pty) Ltd 

12

Typography 

Brand Font & 

Typographic Rules 

To achieve consistency and a strong visual style for Red Gate 

both externally and internally, a single font family has been 

chosen. 

The typeface is Helvetica Neue LT (LinoType) Std, which can be 

used in a variety of weights and styles which are shown below. 

45 Light: 

Aa Bb Cc Dd Ee Ff Gg Hh Ii Jj 

1234567890 

55 Roman: 


1234567890 

65 Medium: 

Aa Bb Cc Dd Ee Ff Gg Hh Ii 

1234567890 

75 Bold: 


1234567890 

Use of Arial as a substitute 

for Helvetica is an acceptable 

secondary option 

13 

46 Light italic: 


1234567890 

56 Roman italic: 


1234567890 

66 Medium italic: 


1234567890 

76 Bold italic: 


1234567890 

Arial: 


1234567890

Typographic rules: Speech Bubbles 

A typographic hierarchy has been developed 

for use in speech bubbles. The relationship 

between font sizes, weights and colours should 

always be maintained. Specific sizes are given 

here as an example. 

Main Tesimonial Font: Helvetica Neue 75 Bold 

Colour: Black Font Size: 18pt Leading: 22pt 

Name Font: Helvetica Neue 75 Bold 

Colour: Red Font Size: 12pt Leading: 18pt 

Job Title Font: Helvetica Neue 55 Roman 

Colour: Black Font Size: 12pt Leading: 18pt 

Second line leading: 16pt 

Typographic rules: Basic 

Some more general rules that should be adhered to in Red Gate 

materials. 

Alignment: Always ragged left, never justified. 

Quote usage: Straight only ( ' + " ) not ( ‘+ “ ) 

Negative tracking: Permitted, but not more than a value of -40 

(assuming use of Adobe InDesign) 

Ligatures: Recommended, and placed automatically when using 

OpenType fonts 

Kerning: Pay close attention to Helvetica's 1 in particular. Values 

of -40 for n1 pairs, and -80 for most 1n pairs are recommended. 

Please note that Red Gate Books have their own rules. 

For more information contact publishing@red-gate.com. 

14

Boring Legal Stuff 

Copyright Red Gate Software Ltd 2010 

The right of Red Gate Sotware Ltd to be identified as the author of this work 

has been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and 

Patents Act 1988. 

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored 

or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by 

any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) 

without the prior written consent of the publisher. Any person who does 

any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal 

prosecution and civil claims for damages. 

2010 Edition edited by: Alice Chapman, Richard (Fox) Collins, Brian Harris, 

Dom Reed & Matthew Tye. 

Designed by Matthew Tye 

Photography by Dom Reed 

Additional Photography by: Andrew C, Przemyslaw Szczepanski (P 8-9); Oliver Gruener, Brian Lary, 

Mari Carmen Guinovart, Roger Kirby, Mac Pale, FrodoBabbs (P 12-13); Takje (P61); Scott Hansen (P 61, 

88, 89); Michal Koralewski (P 97); 

A Note on Future Editions 

Obviously the contents of any future edition of the BoRG will be entirely up to whoever’s editing that 

edition. There is however one untransgressable rule: the pig stays in the picture. So Spider’s going to 

need a new movie to star in. 

A Note on Brian’s Quiz 

As you may have read, the answers to Brian’s quiz are hidden throughout the book. 

The first to find them all (and prove it by showing me) wins £20 from my own pocket. Happy hunting! 

Mat

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