Customer Reviews

DB2® SQL PL: Essential Guide for DB2® UDB on Linux™, UNIX®, Windows™, i5/OS™, and z/OS® (2nd Edition)

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This comprehensive yet concise introduction to DB2's SQL procedural language is the first and best place to find guidance on this crucial topic. Stored procedures are fast becoming the mainstay of successful client/server and Web-based DB2 applications, and this book WILL teach you how to develop them, even if all you currently know is just a bit of SQL.

Written by DB2 experts from the IBM Toronto Labs, this is one of those rare texts that actually imparts expertise. It is eminently readable and crystal clear in its explanations of concepts and their application.

Any and every developer of DB2 stored procedures should read -- and enjoy -- this book

The book describes IBM's Procedural Language, which runs on their db2 servers. It is not a general purpose language, like C or Java. Rather, it is tied directly to db2 and IBM's implementation of SQL. But within this context, the book explains the expressive power of PL. It shows at length how you can write stored procedures, triggers and functions in PL. The level of detail and the cited examples should reassure you of PL's capability.

But why even write business logic code at the database layer? There have been other books on n-tier application design, which call for the locating of business logic in a middle tier and not at the database. The authors' rejoinder is that while that makes for an elegant design, practical experience shows that often, crucial logic needs to be at the database. This reduces networks traffic and can heavily improve perforance. Hence the need for PL, or something like it.

Be wary of the book's claim that PL lets you write "portable application logic". It is portable only between instances of db2 running under linux, unix, Microsoft Windows or IBM's operating systems. When you write embedded logic in PL, you are also embedding yourself or your company into db2. Which may indeed be fine by you. But just so you know.

Conversational in tone, interesting to follow, this book reads more like a novel that keeps you turning pages with avid interest rather than another dry "technical" resource. As someone who deals with SQL PL on an almost daily basis, I was pleasantly surprised to find I learned many things going through this book. The authors don't try to cover every tangent on the subject, and end up with an excellent resource with specific examples that deal with the topic it covers well: DB2 UDB SQL PL.

Excellent Book! . This book has much awaited, much needed information on SQL Stored Procedures. A must read for DBAs and DB2 Developers.

As I stood in line to buy this book I wondered - Am I doing the right thing in buying this book, based on just one rave review? But, now I have absolutely no regrets. Very lucid and worth the money and time you spend on this. I have read about 6 chapters and I like it. I hope to enjoy the rest and try the software as well.

I didn't know anything about writing DB2 stored procedures until I bought this book. After reading it I have written several procedures to aid in data migration. It is well laid out and has all the necessary information. The best part is that you don't feel like you are reading a technical book.

This is a FANTASTIC PL/SQL reference text for coding needs in the z/OS schema. LUW and iSeries are also documented. Examples are provided for every topic presented. The hardback cover was ordered and the paperback cover returned to ensure the broad utilization of the book would allow for a longer time frame. Multiple team members on the project team utilize this book for reference needs.

I would give it a 10 star rating is it were available!!

This is so typically IBM - a total lack of appreciation of the needs of the reader leading to a book that may well contain the information, but makes it near-impossible to find or use. This was a bad book before they updated it and merged in all three major platforms, but now it's just vile - big blocks of platform-specific material that you have to skip past make it a real chore to read.

The grammar is poor - if this book had a professional editor, they should be deeply ashamed. Much of the content is warmed-over material from the (also poor) official reference materials, and there is no real narrative structure. Finally, even the indexing is weak.

Don't waste your money - the online reference books have all the material, and Google will find you more helpful explanatory material.

DB2 SQL PL: The Essential Guide for DB2 is a an excellent tutorial on the topic. This is a must for anyone learning this very important aspect of the DB2 software. The book takes you through a very detailed step by step approach of writing stored procedures with very good examples and very clear explanations. This book will also serve as a good reference.

This is a very useful book for people who is going to develop PL SQL procedures. It covers many detail of the DB2 features with many useful samples. I highly recommend it.