Creating a SQLCLR SP in SQL2005

Up on the VSData Team Blog, Brad's posted A Simple Walkthrough for deploying a SQLCLR Stored Procedure. This is a great companion to the information contained in the SQL Server 2005 Beta 2 Resource Kit (available Free in Australia).

This, and another discussion I was having earlier today with Chuck Sterling, has got me thinking about the convergence between developers and SQL folk. In the past, we (at MS) have had an artificial (read "internal organisational") boundary between developers and IT professionals (the category we've used for SQL Server folk). While the distinction still exists in the organisation (inertia is a wonderful thing isn't it?), we're starting to turn that around. The establishment of the IT Pro evangelist role, in the same team as the developer evangelists, is a good example of this. It's only going to get more important as time goes on and I, for one, am very excited about it.