Advanced Transact-SQL for SQL Server 2000 | 
 enlarge | Authors: Itzik Ben-gan, Tom Moreau
Publisher: Apress
Category: Book
List Price: $59.95
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Avg. Customer Rating:  80 reviews
Sales Rank: 703166
Media: Paperback
Edition: 1st
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 814
Shipping Weight (lbs): 3.8
Dimensions (in): 9 x 7.3 x 2.1
ISBN: 1893115828
Dewey Decimal Number: 005
EAN: 9781893115828
ASIN: 1893115828
Publication Date: October 2000
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Product Description
In Advanced Transact-SQL for SQL Server 2000, authors Itzik Ben-Gan and Thomas Moreau explore the powerful capabilities of Transact-SQL (T-SQL). Ben-Gan and Moreau offer solutions to common problems encountered using all versions of SQL Server, with a focus on the latest version, SQL Server 2000. Expert tips and real code examples teach advanced database programmers to write more efficient and better-performing code that takes full advantage of T-SQL. The authors offer practical solutions to the everyday problems programmers face and include in-depth information on advanced T-SQL topics such as joins, subqueries, stored procedures, triggers, user-defined functions (UDFs), indexed views, cascading actions, federated views, hierarchical structures, cursors, and more.
Download Description
In "Advanced Transact-SQL for SQL Server 2000," Itzik Ben-Gan and Thomas Moreau explore the power capabilities of Transact-SQL. Ben-Gan and Moreau offer solutions to common problems encountered using all versions of SQL Server with a focus on the latest version, SQL Server 2000. Expert tips and real code examples teach advanced database programmers to write more efficient and better-performing code that takes full advantage of Transact-SQL. The authors offer practical solutions to the everyday problems programmers face and provide significant content on the advanced areas in T-SQL such as joins, subqueries, stored procedures, triggers, user-defined functions (UDFs), indexed views, cascading actions, federated views, hierarchical structures, cursors and more. - Provides hundreds of solutions to common problems encountered by SQL Server programmers.
- Both authors write regularly for SQL Server Magazine and Pinnacle Publishing's Microsoft SQL Server Professional newsletter.
- Includes expert tips and plenty of real code examples.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 75 more reviews...
sloppy, amateurish, and impractical December 28, 2005
4 out of 5 found this review helpful
problem 1 is that the authors obviously aren't developers. they're a couple of guys who like sql puzzles. much of the code in this book has little or no practical value. you should not use it in production systems because it will not perform well and will be difficult to maintain. it's like they're trying to show off some way of getting a complex result set with a single select and not even thinking about the performance impact of the code or its maintainability. that kind of stuff is cool to newbies, but real engineers know better.
problem 2 is the astoundingly bad advice throughout. the complex numbers discussion doesn't belong in the book and you should not try to implement complex number handling in t-sql unless you want to be out of a job. much of the advice in the book revolves around cool coding tricks that aren't applicable to any real world problem. who cares if you can do something with a single select that most people would take two statements to do? does the code perform better? have you considered what it will be like to tune and maintain? how readable is it?
bottom line here is that the authors are amateurs who really shouldn't be writing a book to instruct others in t-sql. they need to learn some other languages and get beyond the "cool coding tricks" stage to true engineering.
 Not only not advanced-not beginner either December 14, 2005
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
If advanced means more than I know with only 2-1/2 years with Sql then this is not an advanced book. It is mostly puzzles and things like that-not anything really useful in the real world. The worst part of it is all the errors in the code. There must be dozens of these-but where is the errata?
I have a lot of comp. books and this one has more beginner mistakes and typoes than any others I have read. Not advanced and not beginner-not sure who is supposed to read it.
Lots of good, more not-so-good May 2, 2004
6 out of 11 found this review helpful
On the positive side, there are numerous interesting Transact SQL techniques demonstrated in this book. A couple of them have proved to be very useful to me. I like the exploration of different challenges people face with Transact SQL and the solutions the authors provide.I also like the catalog nature of the book. APress is getting better at this with their books, and this one is pretty good as a reference. On the negative side, the language is misued often in this book. As the old saying goes, "When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail." There are several problems attacked in this book that would be better solved with a language other than Transact SQL. It is simply the wrong tool. I could offer several examples, but the most obvious one would be the complex numbers discussion. I see others have mentioned this, too. Not only are complex numbers not best handled by Transact SQL, they cannot even be accurately handled by the language. You will quickly become the victim of rounding errors, performance problems, and other devils if you try something like this in production code. Another negative is that authors don't write that well. I have come not to expect a lot from technical books, so I don't think this is that big of a deal. But I would have to say that the writing quality in this one is low even for technical books. For one thing, the two write completely differently and you can see the different styles contrasting in different sections of the book. Add to this the fact that neither style is particularly lucid or engaging, and you have a book that is an editor or two short of being cogent and readable.
 A commentary on Critiques: February 17, 2004
8 out of 14 found this review helpful
A common theme among the negative critiques, is the use of the word "Advanced" in the book's title. Personally, i think the authors should simply have chosen a different title, and half of the negative comments would have been subdued. (Something to signify the apparent intent of the authors, such as "An anthology of T-SQL", or "A Comprehensive Introduction to T-SQL" ...) "Advanced" of course is to some extent a product of one's own thinking, and experience. Another aspect to this subject of "Advanced" has to do with the totally hackneyed, over-worked use of the term "Guru." Someone / something can in fact be "Advanced", and NOT be in the realm of "Guru." This term is COMPLETELY over-used, and over-applied. There are in fact but a very FEW "Guru's" out there in the 'Real World' (Ken Henderson being one.) A Guru is a unique, creative combination of high native intelligence, tireless enthusiasm, and indeterminate hours of true, Hands-On Experience, with the product. A Guru can be identified as someone who ALWAYS seems to know more about the topic, no matter what he/she is asked or challenged with. (As an aside....a "Guru" is NOT always a great, or even good, author ... or, communicator to humans, in general ... although this particular talent definitely is advantageous!) In short, evaluate a product, such as a computer book, on its merits, applicability to the task at hand, and value to YOU. Take with a GIANT grain of salt, any negative critique(s) before choosing .... esp. those propagated from a SINGLE source masquerading as MULTIPLE people!
 Crisp, clear and very practical... June 19, 2003
6 out of 9 found this review helpful
This is the most reliable and advanced source of information about TSQL for me. I love this book. It's examples are crisp, clear and very practical. Great job!
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