Inside Microsoft® SQL Server® 2008: T-SQL Querying at Dominant Systems Book Store

Tackle the toughest set-based querying and query tuning problemsguided by an author team with in-depth, inside knowledge of T-SQL. Deepen your understanding of architecture and internalsand 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 modificationinsert, delete, update, mergefor performance
Write more efficient queries against partitioned tables
Work with graphs, trees, hierarchies, and recursive queries
PlusUse pure-logic puzzles to sharpen your problem-solving skills

Customer Reviews & Comments
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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