Chapter 1
What’s an Antipattern?

An antipattern is a technique that is intended to solve a problem but that often leads to other problems. An antipattern is practiced widely in different ways, but with a thread of commonality. People may come up with an idea that fits an antipattern independently or with help from a colleague, a book, or an article. Many antipatterns of object-oriented software design and project management are documented at the Portland Pattern Repository,^[2] as well as in the 1998 book AntiPatterns [BMMM98].

SQL Antipatterns describes the most frequent missteps software developers naively make while using SQL. I have talked to them in technical support and training sessions, worked alongside them developing software, and answered their questions on internet forums. Many of these blunders I’ve made myself; there’s no better teacher than spending many hours late at night making up for one’s own errors.