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This book offers a unique perspective on database development issues. It first presents and explains advanced techniques then demonstrates their use in various business scenarios. The goal is expert mastery of both concepts and their application.
The focus throughout is on expert development of real-world database applications.
Adam Machanic is a database-focused software engineer, writer, and speaker based in Boston, Massachusetts. He has implemented SQL Server for a variety of high-availability OLTP and large-scale data warehouse applications and also specializes in .NET data access layer performance optimization. He is a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) for SQL Server and a Microsoft Certified Professional.
Adam is coauthor of Apress’s highly successful Pro SQL Server 2005.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Off the beaten path - getting serious about SQL Server architecture and design solutions,
By
This review is from: Expert SQL Server 2005 Development (Paperback)
Although this book has "expert" in the title, I think readers of all skill levels will benefit from it. It earns the title by talking about the art and science of database design and architecture and by covering the intricacies of various topics. The first few chapters are worth the price of admission alone. Most SQL Server professionals have varying degrees of application design experience, and Adam does an excellent job describing concepts like coupling, cohesion, encapsulation, object-oriented systems, unit testing, and functional testing. Adam espouses the virtue of treating the database as software - which of course it is. Too often is SQL Server treated like a toy or side effect in the development cycle, but then is expected to perform under enterprise class conditions.
By chapter 3, we start moving into SQL Server functional areas. SQL Server books usually fall into two areas - references and narratives. Adam mixes both narrative and reference quite well, detailing real life methods for handling errors and exceptions, understanding proxies, ownership chaining, and encryption methodologies. In the Encryption chapter, be sure to check out the "Securing Data from the DBA" and "Searching Encrypted Data" sections - both very timely topics given the data breach issues with retail companies lately. This book doesn't tread down the beaten path. Other advanced topics detail SQL CLR architecture and design considerations, SQL CLR security and reliability, dynamic T-SQL versus Ad Hoc, SQL injection, application concurrency considerations, geospatial data by latitude and longitude, working with time zones, and querying hierarchies. The later chapters have the quality of stand-alone white papers. Recommended for SQL Server professionals and architects alike.
18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Review of Expert SQL Server 2005 Development,
By
This review is from: Expert SQL Server 2005 Development (Paperback)
If you are an advanced or intermediate SQL Server developer then this is the book for you. Adam understands real world scenarios and understands that databases are part of a bigger group in the business world. The database is usually the most important asset in an organization. All your data is in the database, you need to secure it, this is where encryption, privilege and authorization comes in. The ratio of web servers to database servers is usually many to one, it is easy to scale out with web servers however with database servers this is not so easy. This is a reason why your code needs to be optimized and designed for application concurrency.
I recommend this book to any intermediate or advanced SQL Server developer. This book is not a book that is like the other book you have but 2 chapters are different. NO, this book contains a lot of good info which is not available in other books. I learned a lot from reading this book and you will too. Here is the breakdown of what is covered in the chapters. Chapter 1 Software Development Methodologies for the Database World Adam explains what Cohesion, Coupling and Encapsulation is, where the business logic should live and the balance between maintainability, performance, security and more. Chapter 2 Testing Database Routines This chapter is worth the price of the book by itself. You will learn how to unit test your procedures, evaluate performance counters and this chapter introduces the SQLQueryStress Performance Tool (see picture below) which will be used in other chapters. This is a very useful tool if you have to tune a query. How many times do you set statistics time and statistics IO on and off to see the reads and CPU time? This tool does it all for you, paste in your query or proc call, specify how many times you want to run it that is it. This tool will save you many stressful (pun intended) hours Chapter 3 Errors and Exceptions This chapter explains the different type of exceptions and how to do error handling. You will also find out what a `doomed transaction' is, this is the one where you get this user friendly message: "The current transaction cannot be commited and cannot support operations that write to the log file. Roll back the transaction." Chapter 4 Privilege and Authorization This chapter explains what impersonation and ownership chaining is. Also covered is how to use EXECUTE AS and how to sign procedures. Chapter 5 Encryption This chapter will explain encryption to you in a clear and concise matter. You will learn how to improve performance by using Message Authentication Code. The difference between symmetric and asymmetric key encryption is covered as well as all the terminology that is needed to really understand encryption. Chapter 6 SQLCLR: Architecture and Design Considerations What this chapter covers is SQLCLR security, why to use SQLCLR and how to enhance Service Broker Scale-Out with SQLCLR Chapter 7 Dynamic T-SQL You want to protect your data? Then this is something you have to read. You will learn how to deal with sql injection, why sp_executesql is much better than exec and the performance implications of parameterization and caching. Chapter 8 Designing Systems for Application Concurrency If you are running an OLTP system and you are suffering from blocking/locking then this is the chapter for you. Isolation levels and how they affect concurrency is explained. This chapter uses the SQLQueryStress Performance Tool to show you the difference it makes in performance when you slightly change your proc. Chapter 9 Working with Spatial Data Spatial data, this is what a lot of people are storing these dates, unfortunately calculating the distance between 2 points is not as easy as it seems (the earth is not flat you know ;-( ) This chapter covers a couple of ways to represent Geospatial Data. Chapter 10 Working with Temporal Data Dates are everywhere in the database but unfortunately a lot of people do not know how dates are stored internally and how to write efficient queries which will cause an index seek instead of a scan. Calendar tables, time zones and intervals are all covered in this chapter Chapter 11 Trees, Hierarchies, and Graphs The difference between Nested Set Model, Persisting Materialized Paths and Adjacency list Hierarchies are explained. There is code included that shows you how to traverse up or down the hierarchy, insert new nodes and much more.
10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A truly remarkable book,
By
This review is from: Expert SQL Server 2005 Development (Paperback)
There is an old story about three men imprisoned in a dark dungeon. Each day they were given a bowl of food and a spoon to eat with. The darkness eventually drove one of the men mad, and he was no longer able to eat his meal. In the darkness, he had forgotten how to eat with his spoon. Every day, one of the two remaining men patiently taught the madman how to use his spoon to eat his meal. The madman, however, would forget what he'd learned on a daily basis, and would have to be taught anew each day by this fellow prisoner. One day, the prisoner became frustrated with the third man for his complete lack of assistance, and began to lash out at him asking, "Why don't you ever help me?" The third man replied, with an aire of conviction, "I am busy trying to bring light into the dungeon so that we can all see."
Too many books in the technical field just teach us the basics; they help us with our daily lives. In this unique book, Adam (one of the brightest lights in the SQL Server world) teaches us to see the light, to understand SQL Server programming, and revolutionize the way we do our work. In this exceptionally well written book, he consistently explains difficult topics with original explanations and great clarity. At first, I felt that some of his examples (like the ones on concurrency) were incorrect, but over time, I have grown in understanding of just how fitting, appropriate, and accurate they actually are. I find I can no longer speak about concurrency without using Adam's examples. He also presents the definitive arguments on some of the more hotly debated topics in the SQL Server world today: stored procedure use over ad hoc SQL, for example. Each topic is presented with clear code samples that illustrate his points perfectly. I truly admire Adam's rhetorical style. Somewhat akin to peeling back layers of an onion, he will present a topic and then, just when you have digested it and added it to your toolbox, he will show you its shortcomings and offer an alternative, more powerful technique. Once you have grasped this new technique, he will present to you a third. Although this volume is somewhat slim, it is a book that should be read and digested slowly, and continually pondered. My understanding of SQL Server 2005 has been transformed from having read this book; read it and let it transform yours as well!
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