Expert Guidance on Sophisticated Uses of Transact-SQL
Review by SQL-Server-Performance.com
Inside Microsoft SQL Server 2005: T-SQL Programming
By Itzik Ben-Gan, Dejan Sarka, and Roger Wolter
508 Pages. Microsoft Press. $44.99.
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T-SQL Programming is part two of the developer portion of the Inside Microsoft SQL Server 2005 series. The first part laid the foundations (reviewed earlier), now they are applied to practice. I would really recommend reading both books sequentially, because the second part is fast-paced right from the beginning and does not stop to recapitulate stuff from the first book.
Table of Contents:
- Datatype-related Problems, XML and CLR UDTs
- Temporary Tables and Table Variables
- Cursors
- Dynamic SQL
- Views
- User-Defined Functions
- Stored Procedures
- Triggers
- Transactions
- Exception Handling
- Service Broker
- Appendix A: Companion to CLR Routines
Just like the first book, I do not need to spend too many words on this book: It too is a must-have for every serious SQL Server developer. Exceptionally interesting is the part on the Service Broker. Because Roger Wolter, who is assumed to be the “father” of the Service Broker, is given the chance to explain his point of view here, I realized for the first time what a mighty part of SQL Server the Service Broker is and how it is likely to gain influence on future applications based on SQL Server.
However, I would also like to express some minor criticism. I have a copy of Ben-Gan and Moreau’s Advanced Transact-SQL for SQL Server 2000 book, but I have not really understood what apparently is so interesting about complex numbers that one would want to implement them in SQL Server. What was quite difficult using pure T-SQL has now become easier via the use of CLR UDT’s, but the whole topic has not become more interesting at all and still has little relevance for daily practice. Without being able to identify a better-suited example, I would like to see a different example in the next version. On the other hand, I believe the introduction and the theoretical background of CLR-based UDT’s is extraordinary strong.
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