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Inside Microsoft® SQL Server® 2008: T-SQL Querying [Paperback]

Itzik Ben-Gan , Lubor Kollar , Dejan Sarka , Steve Kass
4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)

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Book Description

March 25, 2009 0735626030 978-0735626034 1

Tackle the toughest set-based querying and query tuning problems—guided by an author team with in-depth, inside knowledge of T-SQL. Deepen your understanding of architecture and internals—and gain practical approaches and advanced techniques to optimize your code’s performance.

Discover how to:

  • Move from procedural programming to the language of sets and logic
  • Optimize query tuning with a top-down methodology
  • Assess algorithmic complexity to predict performance
  • Compare data-aggregation techniques, including new grouping sets
  • Manage data modification—insert, delete, update, merge—for performance
  • Write more efficient queries against partitioned tables
  • Work with graphs, trees, hierarchies, and recursive queries
  • Plus—Use pure-logic puzzles to sharpen your problem-solving skills

Frequently Bought Together

Inside Microsoft® SQL Server® 2008: T-SQL Querying + Inside Microsoft® SQL Server® 2008: T-SQL Programming (Pro-Developer) + Microsoft SQL Server 2012 T-SQL Fundamentals
Price for all three: $91.68

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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Itzik Ben-Gan is a principal mentor and a founder of SolidQ. A Microsoft MVP for SQL Server since 1999, Itzik teaches and consults internationally on T-SQL querying, programming, and query tuning. He has written numerous articles for SQL Server Magazine and MSDN, and speaks at industry events such as Microsoft TechEd, DevWeek, PASS, and SQL Server Connections.

Lubor Kollar is group program manager with the SQL Server Customer Advisory Team at Microsoft, working on the most challenging SQL Server deployments worldwide. He has 13+ years of experience with SQL Server development.

Dejan Sarka is a mentor with SolidQ and focuses on development of database and business intelligence applications. He is a frequent speaker at international conferences such as TechEd, SqlDevCon, and PASS. He is the founder of the Slovenian SQL Server and .NET Users Group. As main author or coauthor, Dejan has written nine books about SQL Server. He has also developed three courses for SolidQ: Data Modeling Essentials, Data Quality and Master Data Management, and Data Mining.

Steve Kass, PhD, is an MVP for SQL Server and a professor of mathematics and computer science. He has written for SQL Server Magazine and spoken at SQL Server Magazine Connections events.


Product Details

  • Paperback: 688 pages
  • Publisher: Microsoft Press; 1 edition (March 25, 2009)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0735626030
  • ISBN-13: 978-0735626034
  • Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 1.9 x 9.1 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 3.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #66,000 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

In general, this book is well written and conveys the material in logical and progressive order. R. R. Jacobsen  |  7 reviewers made a similar statement
If you are looking for a way to learn SQL this is a good book to learn from too. Wolfsvein  |  5 reviewers made a similar statement
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
50 of 58 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I just went yesterday to a famous bookstore here in town to check this one before order it online and left a bit disappointed, with no desire at all to buy it. Don't get me wrong, Itzik is an awesome writer, a genius on his field, but I do not share the previous 5 start opinions and I will explain why.

I do not consider myself an TSQL expert but got some SQL DBA years on my belt and a MCTS cert too. Having said that and after almost finish reading Microsoft SQL Server 2008 T-SQL Fundamentals (PRO-Developer), same author, I found this one very difficult to follow, flooded with tons of theory and math that for a TSQL book is in my opinion too much. Yes, SQL language has strong logic and math background but that is not what DBAs or developers are looking on a technical book and this is not a college book either; people are looking for practical books which can be quickly be applied on daily job activities.

Chapter #2 for example is full of logic and math stuff that I honestly skipped immediately. Nice as bonus information but not "straight to the point" T-SQL stuff. You can easily take that chapter out and keep the book lighter in my honest opinion. Same for Chapter#3, more logic and math stuff, related to T-SQL, yes, but no the real stuff.

Chapter 1, 7 and 10 are taken of Microsoft SQL Server 2008 T-SQL Fundamentals (PRO-Developer), which by the way, is an outstanding book. Those chapters are about SELECT, JOINS and DML, information that like I said, can be found on the Fundamentals book but in an easy to read style, even with exercises so you can evaluate your own skills.

Chapter #4 is probably the more interesting chapter of the whole book, is about query performance. I must accept Itzik dominates the material but introduces so many complex query concepts and statements that you will get lost in no time. He even mentions he wasn't so sure about where to put this chapter, end of beginning, because the way he's using complex DMVs. But I believe you still can explain query performance without being so technical. This chapter is just full of complex query techniques that make even more complex the explanation of performance tuning strategies. I prefer SQL Server 2008 Query Performance Tuning Distilled by Grant Fritchey; a book just dedicated for that topic but delightful and easy to follow, without being a "dummy book".

In order to be fair and make justice though, the book is really full of theory about logical query processing, set theory and algorithms, foundations of what SQL language is. If you have a really strong background of TSQL query (I mean, really strong TSQL skills), math and the enough time to digest and understand that, this book is for you.

But to me, this book can be out of your book shelve and be easily replaced by this combo instead: SQL Server 2008 Query Performance Tuning Distilled+Microsoft SQL Server 2008 T-SQL Fundamentals (same author) Both will teach the same in a better and easy to follow approach, skipping all the logic, math and boring sql language foundation which to me, are unnecessary on this kind of books especially if you are not in college anymore, but working as a full time DBA.
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7 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
I have really enjoyed this book from the begining to the end.

The new chapters from Steve and Dejan:

- Set Theory and Predicate Logic
- Algorithms and Complexity
- The Relational Model

are a very good complement. Having these topics is handy and refreshing, not to mention a must in this discipline.

Itzik's cover about the new T-SQL features introduced with SQL Server 2008, is insightful and very well guided. No doubt that he is an educator by nature.

If you are new to T-SQL, I strongly recommend that you first read Itzik's book "Microsoft® SQL Server® 2008 T-SQL Fundamentals", prior to diving into this series (T-SQL Querying and T-SQL Programming).

Thanks to all the authors for such wonderful book.

Alejandro Mesa
SQL Server MVP
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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Very well done August 23, 2009
Format:Paperback
I'm new to T-SQL, but not new to database programming. I found this to be an excellent reference for the advanced programmer. The examples are well thought out and well organized. He often gives several different examples of how to solve a problem along with the pros and cons of each solution.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars Good book.
This is a good book as a reference book for beginner to intermediate knowledge of SQL. If you are looking for a way to learn SQL this is a good book to learn from too.
Published 1 month ago by Wolfsvein
2.0 out of 5 stars esperaba otra cosa
esperaba ver más T-SQL, enfocado ,más a rendimiento que a instruir en T-SQL, algunos ejemplos de rendimiento si pueden ser extraídos de él
Published 1 month ago by Juan Granados Reyes
4.0 out of 5 stars SQL Theory Empasized
In general, this book is well written and conveys the material in logical and progressive order. But readers should be ready for a great deal of theory. Read more
Published 2 months ago by R. R. Jacobsen
4.0 out of 5 stars Expert knowledge and outstanding organization. More lucid writing...
Sometimes, the authors of technical books have the prerequisite expert knowledge and have an outstanding organization and game plan. But their writing is just too ambiguous. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Jaewoo Kim
5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing coverage of advanced topics
I've been using SQL for many years but am new to T-SQL (mostly used mySQL before) and have not had the need to do complicated SQL queries before, or mySQL did not have the... Read more
Published 12 months ago by JR
4.0 out of 5 stars Great Information; too much theory
This book is jam packed with information, but a lot of it is theory and heavy mathematics that completely confused me. Read more
Published 12 months ago by Eric Zierdt
5.0 out of 5 stars This book is the Gold Standard
This book is an amazing wealth of information on advanced SQL querying techniques. I've got a ton of bookmarks in this book and I try to flip through it on occasion again in case... Read more
Published 13 months ago by J. Carter
5.0 out of 5 stars I *heard* this was good, but...
I didn't know it would be *that* good! AWESOME!!! Gotta love a book that teaches you something even if you are just skimming around. Read more
Published 14 months ago by P. Linden
5.0 out of 5 stars You will gain alot from reading this
A true gem. I can't think of a single other book that I've learned so much in-depth and practical information. It' not the easiest to read, but it is well worth the effort. Read more
Published 15 months ago by J. Cooper
4.0 out of 5 stars Good Resource
Excellent resource and learning material for experienced professionals. The book follows a systematic approach to querying processing technique. Read more
Published 23 months ago by Ram
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