Books on Data
The books that survived my shelf, from T-SQL Fundamentals to Designing Data-Intensive Applications. Originally published 2025, annotated 2026.
Writing
Archive
Pieces from anildatabi.com, written between 2021 and 2025. They are kept here because the arc matters: the work started deep in a database engine. Every entry is dated and speaks from its era, not from now.
These are preserved, not maintained. Several were merged from a series of shorter posts, and some carry a note on what has changed since. Where the technical advice is tied to a product version, that is flagged in the text. Read them as dated.
The Tools I Used, 2025
A working data toolkit as it stood in early 2025, preserved as a dated snapshot with a 2026 note on what the list got wrong.
2 posts merged
Where Data Lives: Warehouses, Lakes, Lakehouses, and the Stack Around Them
Schema-on-write versus schema-on-read, the open table formats, and the components of a modern data stack. Written 2024 and 2025, merged and annotated 2026.
3 posts merged
Airflow: Fundamentals to Your First DAG
What Airflow is, when not to use it, how the pieces fit together, and building a working ETL DAG. Written 2024 and 2025, with a note on what Airflow 3 changed.
Learning SQL
The order I'd learn SQL in, from SELECT through window functions, CTEs, and the query processing order nobody teaches first.
13 posts merged
SQL Server Performance: Field Notes from 2021
Eleven posts on measuring queries, tuning them, indexing, partitioning, large deletes, SSIS, SSRS and SSMS, merged into one reference. Written 2021, preserved as written.