Guru's Guide to Transact-SQL, The

As a long standing Sybase Adaptive Server and Tools specialist and trainer, I bought this book hoping to extend my skills to Microsoft SQL Server. I also intended to use this book as a reference. The two products have the same roots after all, and both use a flavour of Transact-SQL.The Guru's Guide is basically structured around SQL syntax. It starts with introductory chapters on Transact-SQL, both DDL and DML. Chapters 6 onwards cover SQL in more detail. Many examples accompany the text. And the further you get into the book, the beefier it gets. Advance topics like cursors and transactions are covered well.Stored Procedures and Triggers are only glanced over in this book - these topics are left for the more advanced Guru's Guide to Stored Procedures. But some administrative issues are covered, and covered well. System procedures are discussed, and you can find code for the useful ones that are NOT supplied by the vendors. Talking about which, another topic of interest is the undocumented features T-SQL. The things that are there, but the vendors did not want you to know about it.Database design and performance tuning are topics sorely needed by many application programmers, in my experience, and I recommend these chapters to anyone who needs grounding in these areas. Other programming issues like full-text searching is covered, and there is a neat replacement procedure for Soundex to be found. Many bits and pieces make a good reading of the book worthwhile.All the code are included on a CD-ROM. If you are a Sybase user, do not expect the bonus SQL editor (on the CD-ROM) to work for you. You'll get a message saying "this demo version can only connect to MS SQL Server". Should you visit the website to look for the non-demo version, you'll find a version tied even closer to Microsoft. It won't even install without MS SQL Server present. I thought that this was unfortunate.This book covers so much that I find it hard to summarise it in a few paragraphs. It is obviously recommended for MS SQL server professionals - there are enough glowing reviews on this page. Do I recommend it for Sybase users? Well yes, maybe. If you accept that MS SQL Server and Sybase Adaptive Server have grown apart over the years and that there are many incompatibilities between the two. So while you can use the Guru's guide for ideas, hints and tips and techniques, it will not serve as an exact reference manual. But I think you'll find much of value. This is one of the better database and SQL books I have seen.I have also purchased the follow up Guru SQL book, which is more advanced than the present book. What would also be nice is a book on SQL algorithms or patterns. Maybe Ken Henderson can do a follow-up that provides sample solutions to common SQL problems. And how about a book that covers the differences between to MS SQL Server and Sybase Adaptive Server?

As a software developer who frequently works with SQL, I found Guru's Guide to Transact-SQL to be an invaluable resource. The author provides clear and concise explanations of complex concepts, making it easy to understand and implement best practices in my work. The book is also well-organized and includes practical examples that demonstrate how to apply the concepts in real-world scenarios. I highly recommend this book to anyone looking to improve their Transact-SQL skills or expand their knowledge of SQL programming. It's a 5-star resource that every SQL developer should have in their library!

The author disclaims from the introduction that this book contains no filler like "most other computer books", which off-put me from the start, but I shrugged that off and got busy reading. I'm hands on, so reading this book with SQL Server Mgmt Studio open while working on queries at work, brushing up my SQL, having already been doing this for years. I bought the book as a quick refresher after being out of SQL land for a few years and need it for a new job.The first 16 chapters, covering 400 pages, have good coverage of T-SQL from a programmer's point of view, with real-world examples and clear explanations. However, the last 5 chapters are a waste of space--so much for the author's disclaimer. Ch 17, Administrative Transact-SQL, contains page after page of code and discusses admin tools that do not belong in a programming book. Ch 18, Full-Text Search, uses a tool that must be installed separately, Microsoft Search. Ch 19, OLE Automation, has more coverage of admin tools, like how to do bulk exports--again, waste of space in a programming book. Ch 20, Undocumented T-SQL, more admin tools. Ch 21, Potpourri, is clearly filler to reach the 500 page mark. It is obvious to me that this 400-page book was extended to increase the retail price. It's a 400 page book, that's the bottom line, with a price of $54.99 that should have been priced closer to $40.00. Granted, it can be purchased from the used market for pennies on the dollar today.My second gripe is about the author's out-of-place choice of words on many pages, that so conflicts with the author's oft-stated premise ("This is a coder's book") that I had to wonder why this is so and comment on it. Words such as: 'loquacious' to describe a verbose query; 'Evanescent' used in place of the word 'temporary' (in a paragraph immediately following that includes the word 'scads'? Really?). Like I said, presumptuous. These words make the text needlessly harder to read, because the author is talking about queries and data, where words such as 'verbose' and 'temporary' are appropriate. Was a synonym dictionary really needed to spruce up the book? I'm really trying to not nit-pick this old book, since I learned from it, but the author set the tone with his first sentence, and I have to call him on it. A coder would not use a word like 'loquacious' to describe verbose data. It's annoying. It's imprecise.Now for the good points. This is an excellent 400-page reference to T-SQL, perhaps the best of the dozen or so that I have read. It is still valid today using SQL Server 2008. I recommend it.

As expected