Product Description

Customer Reviews (14)

Good for settings standards among programmers new to PL/SQL
I got this book when I started using Oracle.I ended up having to write sample code and set standards for other folks who were also new to Oracle and PL/SQL, and this book allowed me to gain some wisdom quickly and point the rest in the right direction.I also had another Oracle reference book, but for schooling an Oracle novice on best practices, this was great.I ended up implementing a common exception handling package that was inspired by what I read in this book, and it turned out to be greatly needed.

I wish it had been a bit more detailed in places, and if it were up to twice as long that would probably have made it better.The ability to look things up in an index was also strangely limited.

The book isn't perfect, but it was money very well spent.

Keep searching
I expected a lot more from a guru. It can be helpful to give examples of what not to do, but these examples cover 50%.
Furthermore referencing an excuses-application only confuses the reader, this is not something you can relate to.
Giving partial code and referring to code on the web is rather annoying.
Moral of the story: keep searching for better practices!

Just a note
I really enjoyed reading this book. Even if I don't agree with everything, it's an extremely usefull book to read.

Nice story-telling style to explain the do's and don'ts
A few years ago I bought the first edition of this book. It had a meaningful classification of the suggested best practices and each of them was presented in a consistent way e.g. Title, Example, Benefits, and Challenges.

As the technology evolved (and the links mentioned were not there anymore), I bought this second edition expecting an update in the available tools to support the best practices and probably one or two chapters related to the new Oracle PL/SQL features. Those things were definitely there but I was surprised to find a totally rewritten book. Steven Feuerstein opted for a story-telling style instead of the formal approach followed in the first edition. By describing a project inside an imaginary company with its imaginary employees (each of them with a different character and a different way of working), it is definitely easier (and funnier) to read.

Good programming practices are common to all languages so I didn't expect any big surprises (naming conventions, layout, keeping procedures short, avoid repeating code, etc). What I found extremely valuable was the chapter about exception handling, the advice about how to implement a test-driven approach for the PL/SQL code, the reference to software tools (free and commercial) that can be used in the development process, and the online resources (PL/SQL code, articles).

My only criticism would be the Quick Reference provided in the book. After having read the book, it was not so easy for me to find again a particular section or example. I had to re-read a few pages in order to find what I was looking for (contrary to the first edition where this was very easy done).

I would recommend this book to any beginner or intermediate PL/SQL developer, although I am sure that even experienced ones will learn valuable things.

A set of 'best practices' for developing applications
Steven Feuerstein's ORACLE PL/SQL BEST PRACTICES, 2ND EDITION provides the author's years of programming, teaching and writing experiences in a set of 'best practices' for developing applications. The latest release of Oracle is covered in chapters which cover nine categories in chapters which are quick and easy to consult, arranged in a problem/solution format to reflect real-world programming examples and challenges.
... Read more

Product Description

400+ ready-to-use, powerful SQL queries

Learn powerful techniques for surfacing and delivering actionable business intelligence using SQL. Practical SQL Queries for Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 contains more than 400 downloadable SQL queries you can use to extract meaningful insights from large amounts of data. The application, syntax, and results of each query are described in detail. The book emphasizes SQL for use in SSMS, but the queries also apply to SSRS, WinForms, WebForms, and many other applications.

• Enter, maintain, and retrieve database data
• Search records using the Where clause
• Sort SQL query results with the Order By clause
• Create tables and perform joins on tables
• Perform set operations using Union, Intersect, and Except
• Group data and produce totals with the Group By clause
• Manipulate and transform data using built-in functions
• Create reusable views and user-defined functions
• Use stored procedures to change SQL dynamically based on conditional factors
• Create, maintain, and secure database objects with DDL and DCL
• Deliver SQL query results to end users

Customer Reviews (1)

Not for experienced SQL programmers
The description says "400+ ready-to-use, powerful SQL queries". More than 400? Yes. Powerful? No, unless you've never used any SQL at all.If you're already using SQL queries and have any SQL reference, I recommend you save your money.As a moderately experienced, but only occasional SQL developer, I was hoping for a good reference of queries that address issues that are common in the real world and require more than a basic knowledge of T-SQL.The queries in this book are just too simplistic to be called powerful and that "deliver actionable business intelligence." It takes 200 pages before the topic of "Subqueries" is addressed (in Chapter 10!) and there are only 8 pages on the topic.There are some useful examples in this book, but just not what I was looking for. ... Read more

Product Description

SQL Server 2008 Transact–SQL Recipes: A Problem–Solution Approach is an example–based guide to the Transact–SQL language that is at the core of SQL Server 2008. Learn to create databases, insert and update data, generate reports, secure your data, and more. Author Joseph Sack takes common Transact–SQL tasks and breaks them down into a problem/solution format that is quick and easy to read so that you can get the job done fast when the pressure is on.

• Focused on solutions: Look up what you need to do. Learn how to do it. Do it.
• Current: Newly updated for SQL Server 2008.
• Comprehensive: Covers 30 different Transact–SQL problem domains.

What you’ll learn

• Create databases, tables, and indexes.
• Query and manipulate data.
• Store and manage XML inside the database.
• Move business logic into the database.
• Encrypt data and capture changes for compliance purposes.
• Implement Full–Text Search.
• Interface with Service Broker.
• And more!

Who is this book for?

Developers who use Microsoft SQL Server 2008 as their back–end database. Database administrators who create, manage, and secure those databases.

Customer Reviews (9)

A good SQL Server Reference Book
I read and review lot of SQL Server books. Almost every other book on SQL Server has something new or explaining same features in a different way. I ordered this book being drawn to the title of this book. This book is written by one of the SQL Premier Field Support Engineers from Microsoft. It is nicely laid out and definitely different from other books in explaining SQL Server features. The best thing about this book is "How it Works" sections. For most of the part, the author has done a good job for these sections in describing the internals of each of the features. However, I did find the explanation to some extent short for some important features such as Service Broker, Encryption, Database Snapshots and Query Hints. Especially, I was looking for some internal information on Service Broker.
It is definitely worthwhile to spend some time in reading this book.I would rate this book a 4 star.

Excellent T-SQL bookfor SQL Server 2008
This is an excellent T-SQL bookfor SQL Server 2008. You have to have some T-SQL coding experiences to enjoy the use of it.

Buy or steal this book
I bought this thinking it was the typical recipe type book for T-SQL from this publisher and it is. It also covers a number of things regarding managing SQL Server that a developer should know and understand. This won't make you a dba but after reading this you are on your way. Well organized in presentation explainations of code samples are good. I found the writing itself enjoyable. You should have an understanding of basic SQL to get the full benefit here but I think a beginner to the subject would not be lost here. As I say in the title of my review buy or steal this book if you need a T-SQL guide.

Now This Is What I Call "From Novice To Professional"
I Highly Recommend this book to anyone using Sql Server... Dont let the 2008 fool you, he points out where the T-SQL code differs from previous enviroments...full of great information

Fantastic Addition to the Books Online
Joseph Sack's book is full of information on how to write T-SQL code. That's all it does and all it is. The name is just about perfect. He focuses on the language and structure of Transact SQL and delivers a great set of examples and explanations that will communicate the concepts, simple and complex, necessary for you to go to work on your own system. It really is a set of recipes for dealing with T-SQL.

The chapters break down into broad concepts like Select or Indexes or Linked Servers. These concepts are then broken down into the component parts so that, for example, in the Backup chapter, you get broad sub-topics on Creating a Backup and Recovery Plan, Making Backups and Restoring a Database. These are then broken down even further into specifics such as Viewing Database Space Usage. These specific topics then show the syntax, similar to Books Online, but laid out a little differently with immediate explanation of the parameters followed by the true strength of the book, examples. He finally sums up the section with a "How It Works" description.

This is not a "learn how to use SQL Server" book. It is exactly what it says, a set of recipes that will help you work with T-SQL. Actually, when you look at all the examples in the book, that's where you're getting your money's worth and then some. These are good examples, original and well thought out. It shows how to use the code, and, more importantly, how to use it right.

I'd recommend this to DBA's for sure, but I think it's a must for developers too. Here's a handy resource to help you get better T-SQL code the first time. ... Read more

Product Description

SQL for Smarties was hailed as the first book devoted explicitly to the advanced techniques needed to transform an experienced SQL programmer into an expert. Now, 15 years later and in its fourth edition, this classic reference still reigns supreme as the only book written by a SQL master that teaches programmers and practitioners to become SQL masters themselves! These are not just tips and techniques; also offered are the best solutions to old and new challenges. Joe Celko conveys the way you need to think in order to get the most out of SQL programming efforts for both correctness and performance.

New to the fourth edition, Joe features new examples to reflect the ANSI/ISO Standards so anyone can use it. He also updates data element names to meet new ISO-11179 rules and he expands coverage of SSD, parallel processors and how new hardware will change how SQL works, all with the same experience-based teaching style that made the previous editions the classics they are today.

Topics covered:Database design and normalization, SQL data types, querying, grouping,set operations, optimization, data scaling, and encoding. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (48)

Somewhat useful but overrated.
This is one of those books that are perhaps nice to have IN ADDITION to something better. Btw, do NOT overestimate the "for smarties" part in the title: the book is not all that advanced: it's more like an extensive cookbook with a lot of personal opinion thrown in (not always consistent; for example, in one place he inveighs against the evils of using sequential-number sequences as primary keys -- 'cause a table is not a sequence, you see, we're talking about sets here, who, by definition, are unordered -- OK, fine. Ten pages later he blasts the GUID type -- why? Because it's not inherently sequential and it's hard to spot the gaps in the sequences. But hey, why do we care about gaps? All we care about is that the field values be unique, which they are, gaps or no gaps. Seems like GUIDs should be perfect from the set-theoretical point of view, but no, he doesn't like them -- precisely because of the presence of those aspects, the lack of which he bemoaned one chapter back in the IDENTITY type. It's like he wrote these two chapters one ten years after the other, and forgot what he was talking about in one when writing the other.

The content (or rather the intent behind it) is very good. There's a logical progression from the overall-schema things, to tables, and so on, including such esoterica as hierarchies and graphs (which is good not only, or even not so much because of the topics themselves, but because nice recent SQL features like CTEs are used a lot in the sample code thus demonstrating their non-trivial use).

The downsides: the main flaw in Celko's writing is that whatever he writes reads like a two-page journal article, by which I mean it's all a perfunctorily dashed-off collection of tidbits; the overall structure is very tenuous (for example, he starts the hierarchies' chapter by saying they're a sort of graphs -- but the graphs proper chapter comes afterwards: wouldn't it make more sense to switch their order in the book then?) Some chapters are borrowed from other writers: for example, the chapter on temporal databases is taken, or rather squeezed out of Snodgrass's book (which I happened to be reading in parallel and thus was able to notice that). I'm not hinting at plagiarism here: I'm sure Snodgrass was aware of this borrowing and had OK'ed it, but first it would be nice to mention the fact of borrowing (I think), and second, and most important, when you compress a book into a chapter, you gotta do it very carefully so as to keep the material connected, coherent, and clear. This is not the case here (go for the original: it's good, and can be downloaded for free; google on the name).

In general, Celko's writing, while not abhorrent, is mostly (though not everywhere) very sloppy; everything reads like a first draft never touched again by either the author or an editor. A fair amount of typos, and a lot of unclear, careless pages that make you struggle for meaning (not always successfully). Mangled French again: Joseph, if there's an accent over the last 'e' in a masculine form of a participle, it's gotta be an accent aigu, not accent grave (feminine simply adds an extra 'e' w/o changing anything else); thus it's 'née' not 'nèe'. Maybe it's a typo, but it's consistently repeated thoughout the book (and actually present in his other books!). While we're here: "Borland (née Inprise)" is actually the other way around: Inprise (née Borland).

There's no question that the author is a smart guy, but writing isn't his forte and he should be less casual about it -- and then, he should also insist that his publisher provide good editorial oversight. I think MK is a good publisher, and I think they ought to be able to do a better job helping their writers achieve readability.

Bottom line: I don't regret having this book; it's friendly and chatty (in a good sense); the inherently dry material is livened up a bit by a sprinkling of curious trivia; it's been somewhat enlightening on the first read, and repeatedly useful as a reference afterwards. Otoh, it's written sloppily and I feel that, inasmuch as I benefitted from it, I did only because I happen to have enough foundation to compensate for its flaws on my own. But I'm not looking for this kind of effort when reading technical books though, so three stars. Could be more, but for that the book needs to be aggressively edited and restructured. It's the third edition, btw: it would seem that there's been plenty of time to do just that.

All in all, I recommend it, but only half-heartedly: as long as the prospective reader understands that this is not a terribly advanced book, as well that the reading won't be easy. The book's OK, but not on par with what you get from writers like Gray or Date.

A Major disappointment
I've seen various versions of this book sitting on DBA bookshelves for years.The concept is a good one - advanced sql for those of us who already have significant experience.

This book is NOT an advanced SQL textbook.Another reviewer, Tim Boyes, describes it as "SQL 201", and he's exactly right.Most of the content in this book is just barely above basic SQL knowledge, and half the time I felt like I was reading a re-hash of SQL BOL.

Another thing that I noticed (how could I miss it?) was the almost incomprehensible arrogance of the author, particularly when he compares the use of IDENTITY to drug abuse.Come on, Joe.That's just insulting.

This one's going back to Amazon.

Joe does a pretty good job
Some of the concepts are a little lofty for the casual SQL programmer, but it is SQL for Smarties not dummies.He gives a lot of SQL code in his examples, but does not show the results of the code in a screen shot that I believe would be most helpful.

Overall, I like the book and would buy it again given the opportunity.

A great help
As a DBA not doing so much with SQL this book is and has already been a great help for me creating complex queries.

Book overrated
This book is overrated.Many of the examples contain errors which will consume a lot of your time.I ended up spending more time figuring out where the mistakes were (in the descriptions of the examples or in the example themselves) than I did actual learning.While I do not doubt Joe's expertise in the subject I do find that he has difficulty explaining things.For me this book was a waste of time.A co-worker of mine has the 2nd edition, and the book is half the size of the 3rd edition.That version probably has a lot fewer mistakes and might be worth reading.As far as the 3rd edition, I threw mine in the trash. ... Read more

Product Description
Learn the essentials for developing mobile applications for any device. Focusing on proven techniques and practices, this guide addresses the real-world needs of experienced Microsoft Windows® mobile developers. Users are growing increasingly dependent on mobile devices, and with innovations such as the Windows Vista(tm) Sync Center that make it easy to manage data synchronization, this proliferation will continue. Developers need to respond to this evolution with more than simple adaptations of the user interface--they need to implement mobile solutions for most of their applications. From expert authors with years of real-world experience, this book addresses this evolution, covering key mobile-development topics, including design, debugging, deployment, performance optimization, security, and globalization. It also covers mobile applications that use Microsoft .NET Compact Framework 2.0, Microsoft SQL Server(tm) 2005 Everywhere Edition, and Microsoft Windows Mobile® 5.0, running on devices such as Pocket PCs and Windows Mobile Smartphones. In addition, it includes extensive code samples in Microsoft Visual C#®, with additional code sample in Microsoft Visual Basic® on the book's companion Web site. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

A WHOLE LOT OF INFORMATION
This book has information that can not be found in many other books.The book looked brand new and came in a very timely matter.

Full of Filler and Code is Incorrect
The whole first part of this book is just filler. It is a long walkthrough of the features found in SSMSE.

The very first code examples don't work specifically the smo backup code... and the code examples aren't teaching proper coding techniques. The writers of this book need to take a course on Microsoft's Design Guidelines.

This book is teaching bad programming habits, the code is incorrect, and the book is stuffed with filler.

Nice Intro but Little Content.
This is your typical intro book, good for a tour through the highlights.But it is not a reference book, and because it covers so many topics it can spend very little time on any one subject.You will find all the material at the MS web site.You will still need to find more thorough reference material in order to be successful.

Great Reference!!!!!!!!!!!
From the beginning, this text illustrated an overview of the SQL CLR with a sufficient amount of detail so that someone just starting to learn SQL could understand it, but also a developer familiar with this topic would benefit from this review.Debugging was covered extensively in Chapter 9.I was impressed with all of the scenerios that were brought to light for debugging SQL Server code.I especially liked Chapter 7 on Security.The chapter started off slow to make sure the reader understood the four themes of SQL Server 2005 security, and then went on to explain encryption support and protecting SQL 2005 with great examples.I would definitely recommend this book to any developer interested in learning about new features in SQL Server 2005.I found it to be extremely well-written, interesting, and helpful!

New Favorite Reference Book
I've had this book for a little over a week, looking for time to give it some proper due. Now I only wished I had delved into it right away. Or gotten it sooner. It's now moved to the front of the line as my favorite reference book.

Clearly written and organized, it took me all of 15 minutes to follow a new concept (to me). It was logical, building upon itself and fully explained what was going on, and HOW it works too. It's been my experience in the past that developer books fall into one of two categories: Tutorial and Reference. This is the first one that I have seen sucessfully split the two and combine the best of both. The author right up front explains what the book does and does not cover.

This book isn't for DBAs or people who want to know how to use SQL Server 2005. The book is for developers who want to know how to use the new features of SQLServer 2005, and how to use them in .NET 2.0.

I'm not sure how I've gone so long with out this book. Just in the last hour, it's been a life savor. I'm learning about capabilities that I'd never seen documented anywhere else. ... Read more

Product Description
Access 2000 is the database of choice for many small to medium businesses. Using Access in conjunction with VBA, VB or ASP it is possible to develop sophisticated systems for storing and manipulating business data. Office 2000 and Access 2000 offer many new features that can be used with VB to create great user interfaces and applications. This book concentrates on the issues involved with this type of development, and shows how to create database-driven internet and intranet applications with Access as the underlying datastore. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Want to Expand Past macros?
I've created basic database structures and applications for about five years and pledged never to go past writing macros, because I didn't want to be forced to learn VBA.I run a realty and mortgage office and just couldn't spare the time.Now that Outlook and the Office suite is becoming more familiar with my crew and now that we've joined a WAN and some B2B data sharing, the basic stuff just didn't fill the bill.I've bought quite a few books on Access recently (not to mention dozens from the past few years) and have found this one to be one of the best in its presentation and content.

It gave me some real insight on how I should be considering networking and upsizing.I answered more questions I had after spending 12 hours with the book, than I had spent searching the net or reading the other books for several months.I even read though the code and understood it, and contrary to the warnings the presentation still flowed well.I still know little VBA and am now going back to get a Wrox book on Beginnng Access 2000 VBA.

Concise, very detailed, stuffed full of info and reference.I'm a Wrox fan now.

Wrox Wins Again!
I've been consulting for over 5 years with Access in all it's iterationsexcept 1.0 and I must say that this is the best book on intermediate topicsthat I have found.There is no "fluff" like in books from otherpublishers (especially Queue in my opinion).This book is concise withreal world examples for real world issues.When I first opened this bookand read a bit I realized this book was written by consultants/developerswho have gotten there hands dirty and not "feel good" academicswho have never written a line of code for a company.Keep this one handyif you're the Access guru at your firm.

Professional Access 2000 Programming
Professional Access 2000 Programming is a combination of a training bookto heighten your programming skills, and a reference work that will giveyou a complete overview of Access 2000 and it's related programmingenvironment. It's written in the traditional Wrox style that is so easy toread and usable for developers.

One thing I do miss, is the usual Wroxopening statement where it is described whom the book is written for and ifany previous programming skills are assumed. It's not until chapter 3 thatyou find out VB or VBA programming experience is assumed to make use of thechapter. Don't start on this book without any knowledge of VBA, since it isused in most of the coding examples. If you don't know VBA check out thefollowing books: ISBN 0782123244, ISBN 1861001762 and ISBN 0735605920. Anunderstanding of ADO would also improve on the usability of the book.

Tomake use of the books fullest potential, have a design plan of yourdatabase next to it and make notes or check for errors in your design whenyou go through the chapters. This helped me to improve on the design of mydatabase.

Not essential, but it would have been nice if the sample codeused in the book had been made available to the reader. At one place in thebook the author even writes that the sample code is available from Wrox'website, but as of today it is not.

This book has given me the skills andconfidence to start working on client/server solutions and integrating SQLserver. It breaks down the entire complexity surrounding Access 2000 anddatabase development to sizeable blocks and tools that I can piece togetheraccording to programming and design goals. A must have for any Accessprogrammer on his way to become a true professional. ... Read more

Product Description
Sams Teach Yourself PL/SQL in 21 Days is the ultimate hands-on guide that teaches you how to take full advantage of Oracle's powerful database systems, including Web-based J/SQL implementations. In addition, you will learn to streamline client/server communications and queries and use a variety of enhancements, such as triggers and packages, which make Oracle application development much smoother.Whether you are a beginning programmer or an accomplished Oracle user, Sams Teach Yourself PL/SQL in 21 Days will help you establish yourself as an Oracle programmer, ready for advancement in this premium database marketplace. By walking you through each element of the PL/SQL language extension, this book helps you to understand the basics of using new and existing Oracle8 objects, as well as complex processing issues. This guide also teaches you to implement PL/SQL in a comprehensive, real-world system. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

One of the best out of collection of bad books
If you are starting out in Oracle PL/SQL, this book and their online helpHTML/PDF is the only source you are going to need.All other books out inthe bookshelves are garbage.This is one of the best books out ofshelf-full of bad books on PL/SQL.Index on the back of the book isincomplete to say the least.I believe any good programming book shouldhave extensive index, since nobody has the time to go through the wholebook, and we need to refer to index for different things as we work on aproject.So far, of all the books, and I have a collection now, this bookis the most comprehensive book, if you can find what page to look.

Very well done
I've found this book very helpfu

Good for starters
If you're totally new to pl/sql programming, this is a good book.The explainations are simple and easier to understand than other books that I assume expects you to have some experience.This book gives you some good samples for starters but after finishing this book, I recommend you get amore hardcore book.You could follow the next book you buy with ease andlearn a little more.One problem is that this book mentions things thatare covered in later chapters, so you might have to go back to the indexand jump around a litte (other books do this butthey do it more often).

disappointing
For the novice user, chapters 1 through 8 give a good description of the language.I was able to understand how the language works and do the exercises.From chapter 9 until the end, I guess the authors assume thatthe debugging chapter was enough to start debugging their examples.Evensome the examples on the CD-ROM did not execute.

Week 3 is the worst ifyou do not have the Oracle software listed in chapter 1, but it is worththe read.At least you can impress the interviewer at your nextinterview.

If you want to learn a little about Oracle and have someVisual Basic experience, try Nick Snowden's Oracle with Visual Basic.Itis mainly SQL, but I got a better view of how Oracle operates.

I used the21-Day Book for Visual Basic 5 and learned a lot (first time I had everused VB). I was expecting the same level of learning from this book and washighly disappointed.

As for a good PL/SQL book, I am still looking.

good book for a beginner
I started learning pl/sql a couple of weeks ago. I am halfway through thebook(i am not doing a chapter a day:). I find it very easy to comprehend,even by a novice. I think it is a really good start if you know some sql.There are a few small flaws(typo errors) which are no problem. ... Read more

Product Description
An international standard, SQL, or structured query language, is a programming language used to store, manage, and retrieve data housed in relational databases. Ideal as a stand-alone primer or when used in conjunction with another introductory computer science text, The SQL Programming Language prepares you for future SQL programming courses offered within CS and CIS. With a clear, concise, and descriptive writing style, you will see real-world examples and cases of SQL functionality in database management. Each section focuses on a concrete concept which is illustrated with one or more example queries and the tables of results which they produce. The exercises parallel the examples, allowing you to reinforce the concepts introduced and explore them further. The book includes an example Microsoft Access database, allowing you to run the given example queries and see them in action, and also allows you to work the exercises and check your solutions against those provided. ... Read more

Product Description
Useful business analysis requires you to effectively transform data into actionable information. This book helps you use SQL and Excel to extract business information from relational databases and use that data to define business dimensions, store transactions about customers, produce results, and more. Each chapter explains when and why to perform a particular type of business analysis in order to obtain useful results, how to design and perform the analysis using SQL and Excel, and what the results should look like. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (11)

Buy This Book!
Buy This book!

I have worked in Business Intelligence for more than 15 years and rarely do you find books with this such a great combination of;
- easy to read
- practical advice, even for the most advanced practitioners
- valuable reference for quick lookups

Gordon always takes a pragmatic approach to solving problems and the specific examples used in the book are ones that can easily be extended for some of the most complex analytics in use today across industries, I have used them repeatedly in Financial Services!

great book about excel, statistics & sql
I have been teaching introductory and intermediate statistics to public policy graduate students for the past ten years.I also work in the media industry where (very) large data needs to be analyzed daily.This is one of the books that I highly recommend to my students and colleagues, because it recognizes a reality in the world:most data is stored in relational databases and most analysis is in Excel.This book is excellent, so you'll need two copies...Someone is always borrowing mine.

Great book for advancing in sql
I have been practicing SQL for a while, but this book took my skills to a whole new level. The best thing about the book is that it goes to the core of the issues, without losing oneself in the details, deals with real data rather than constructed examples and explains concepts in a structured, well-informed manner. I recommend this book if you really want to enhance your SQL skills and be different from the crowd.

Pure gold
Not only is this a first-rate book on data analysis, it's also an absolute treasure trove of useful SQL. This book belongs within arm's reach of every data analyst, business intelligence professional, reportsmith, and, most happliy in my case, those involved in data quality. If I were pressed to find one thing missing, it would be coverage of MS Query, which is embedded within Excel and allows one to connect it directly to a database and execute queries against it, thus obviating the need to cut and paste. To his credit, the author does mention this capability in chapter two, but deems it outside of the scope of the book and therefore goes no further. Perhaps he and/or his editor might consider covering it in an appendix of a future edition, which I fully expect there to be several of--this book is a generous 600+ pages of hard-earned knowledge, and deserves every one of its five-star ratings.

At last .. a practical data analysis guide!
Having seen a multitude of books offering either statistical analysis techniques or suggestions around data mining tools, it is refreshing to see someone approach the subject using simple, readily available tools and a practical, business oriented approach to the topic. The apparently mundane subject of customer retention coupled with buying patterns and market basket analysis is laid out in an effective and sequential manner. The SQL examples take some getting used to but, once understood, offer a series of easily implemented and highly effective methods to illustrate the concepts shown in the book. As a reference guide and an illustration that one needs to know the questions to be asked of the data before investing in the latest drag and drop business intelligence tools, this book is unparalleled. The author has not stinted on providing a wealth of examples and explanation. If this tome is a reflection of how Mr Linoff and his team approach their real world consulting activities, they must be a formidable team indeed.

For anyone who has wrestled with a means to understand their customer buying patterns and product affinity patterns in their historical sales data, this book cannot be beaten ... Read more

Product Description
Dive deep into the internals of query tuning and optimization in SQL Server 2005 with this comprehensive reference. Understanding the internals of SQL Server helps database developers and administrators to better create, access, and effectively process information from enterprise data. Written by experts on SQL Server, this volume from the Inside Microsoft SQL Server series of books focuses on query tuning and optimization. You'll take an in-depth look at the best ways to make queries more efficient and effective, while maximizing existing resources. Includes extensive code samples and table examples to help database developers and administrators understand the intricacies and help promote mastery of query tuning and optimization. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (9)

Great condition - received promptly
Needed thisbook to solve Sql 2005 performance issues. Went online and ordered this book - got the book in the promised time and in excellent condition. Book is very helpful for someone who wants to dive into SQL performance tuning - DBA/ App Developer / BI professional etc

Review of Inside Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Query Tuning and Optimization
SQL performance tuning is probably one of those things you can do to really make a HUGE difference in performance. Let's put this in perspective: take a typical application, if you can improve the performance by 100% then you really made a huge improvement. You can improve a SQL query by 1000% with 2 lines of code (sometimes all you have to do is take away a % sign). If you can make a query sargable so that the optimizer can do an index seek instead of an index scan your query might go from 12 seconds to 200 milliseconds. Now try doing that in an application, even if you change all the string concatenation to use a stringbuilder instead of creating new strings all the time you will not get such a drastic performance improvement. I am sure you get the point by now, let's talk about the book.

This book is part 4 of the Inside Microsoft SQL Server 2005 series, it is written by Kalen Delaney and five other authors. There are 6 chapters in this book

1 A Performance Troubleshooting Methodology
This chapter explains some typical things that affect performance and also gives a troubleshooting overview

2 Tracing and Profiling
This chapter explains how to use the profiler and how to analyze traces. SQL Server's built-in traces are also covered

3 Query Execution
This chapter gives a query processing and execution overview. It explains how to read plans and goes into a lot of detail about analyzing plans

4 Troubleshooting Query Performance
This chapter explains how to detect problems in plans, how to improve queries and some best practices

5 Plan Caching and Recompilation
This chapter goes into detail about plan caching and recompilation and how to troubleshoot plan cache issues

6 Concurrency Problems
The final chapter deals with concurrency (locking, blocking and deadlocking)

This is an excellent book for an intermediate/advanced developer. There is so much new stuff in SQL Server 2005 compared to 2000 to help you with tuning queries that you probably want to read each chapter several times. The Dynamic Management Views are a big help and this book shows you how to use them. Some other cool stuff in this book is the discussion of internal tables, undocumented DBCC commands and undocumented trace flags to discover information which could help you determine much faster what the cause of a performance problem might be. Some pages are packed with so much information that you need to pause for a second and process all that info (I have read some pages two to three times in a row). You will also find out that there are more joins besides left, full and outer. Page 137 for example has a nice table with the three Physical Join Operators: Nested Loop Join, Hash Join and Merge Join. This table lists the characteristics for each of these joins. If you are an intermediate to advanced developer then I highly recommend this book.

A must-have for tuning SQL Queries
I rarely review books, but for this one I feel compelled to do so. I knew that SQL Queries were creating major bottlenecks in my web application, but I did not know which ones they were and how to fix them. My app was already live with thousands of users, and since I am primarily a web developer (and not a database expert), I needed practical help, and fast.

Because of this book, within a matter of days I went from clueless to expert in reading query execution plans, creating effective indexes, and tuning my queries. By making my application much more responsive, I am sure I retained countless customers. Another big benefit: I am saving thousands of dollars per year on postponing or cancelling hardware upgrades (more processors, faster disk/raid systems, etc) that I thought were necessary to support my users. With my queries tuned and optimized, it looks like I can handle 4-5 times the load on my current infrastructure than I had previously thought.

This book really is a must read for anyone with a web application with even a modestly sized database, who is concerned with performance and scalability.

A must for serious SQL 2005 specialists
I have read around 25 SQL 7/2000/2005 books including all 3 books and 1 pamphlet from Kalen Delaney. This is by far the best Kalen Delaney book and one of the best SQL 2005 books.

Unlike her other SQL 2005 book (SQL 2005 Storage Engine), this book does not suffer from convoluted and often incomprehensible writing.

This book covers (and covers it well):
1)Performance tuning using different indexes.
2)SQL execution plans and what each process means.
3)Explanation of statistics (the best I have read).
4)Troubleshooting Query Performance (mostly better usage of indexes).

What this book does not cover are:
1)Database Administration (backup/recovery, replication, stored procedures etc).
2)Business Intelligence
3)How to write T-SQL (functions, views, SP etc).
4)Integration Services.

Overall, this book is not a "how to" book as much as a very high level explanation of the workings of SQL and how they process T-SQL. I highly recommend it for those with already keen understanding of T-SQL and SQL 2005.

Books Online gone prolix
I was disappointed with this book, which I bought together with SQL Tuning by Dan Tow, hoping to get well-digested expert advice. SQL Tuning was all that I hoped for, and I highly recommend it.

This book, though, has that creepy quality so common to MSFT Press books, where very knowledgeable people, usually connected with the MSFT development teams, list feature after feature in long, passive-voice descriptions, failing to discriminate for the reader and advise as to what is useful and what is not. You have the sense that they spent lots of time at trade shows touting the latest horde of "features", and little time coding under the strain of deadlines and client expectations. To them, every SQL Server nuance is always useful and wonderful and should get fair mention :(

This is a simple example, but SQL Tuning tells me that table scans are normally fine when selecting above 20% of rows, and index seeks are good for row counts under a percent, the space between depending on circumstance (which gray space the book goes on to address). This book, meanwhile, provides no real guidance, and tells me that table scans can be good, and indexes are useful too, and that SQL Server handles both nicely, and that the optimizer selects one or the other, and that it uses iterators, and that they are important, and that you can see what the optimizer has selected, and that you can change that if you want, and that you can automate the change, and that you can document the change, and here are the 4 related undocumented stored procs, and that this is new for 2005, and that there are other related matters, and that SQL Server has all this. Thanks!

Seems they are always plugging the product and never can admit to having suffered with its complexity. The recommendations, if you get them, are always muted by a kool-aid soaked affinity for SQL Server, which does all things well and will never fail to offer just the feature you need to succeed.

The book runs very long and strikes me as a big core dump on 3,000 topics, none of which seem prioritized or emphasized in distinct categories. Sure, the book has distinct chapters into which related material is dumped, but this fails to serve as **guidance**, which is what you are buying the book for. Not written by people in the trenches. Not recommended unless you want to buy some additional MSFT documentation. ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (8)

Very good if you want to learn MDX
I tried several other books on MDX, and for beginner, this is head and shoulders above the rest. There are some issues with installing samples from CD, but once you past that, it's a smooth sailing. I went through the book literally step by step, and it worked well for me.

Hard to beat
If you are a beginner to intermediate MDX person, then I can't think of any better book on the subject. Don't let the "step-by-step" label misguide you into believing this book is only for the beginners. This book covers from the simple to the complex MDX queries.

The book deals from the very basic "Select { } on columns, { } on rows from [Cube]" to using Expressions, Aggregation, and navigating the hierarchies. You will learn to use all MDX keywords, functions, and syntax structures.

I would not recommend this book as a first book on SQL BI (I like Brian Larson's "Delivering Business Intelligence"). Rather, this book should be an important supplement to anyone's SQL BI knowledge. Although SQL 2008 provides a handy GUI to build a MDX queries on an existing cube, it is not a good substitute for complex MDX queries. Trust me, when the pressure is on, and the senior management wants to get key information in a hurry, understanding MDX well can save you a lot of stress and reduce the blame game so prevalent in IT.

If you are never going to use MDX, I would question the need to build and process Cubes (also called Data Mart) all together. If you have a solidly designed Data Warehouse and a well functioning ETL process, you can just query the DW using SQL for most of the information you would need. But MDX releases the potential of the Cube and makes the entire SQL BI, and the Cube in particular, far more valuable and usable.

MDX is used across multiple Business Intelligence platforms. Even if you do not plan to exclusively use SQL BI, this book will help you to understand MDX that you can apply to, let's say, Microstrategy and SAS.

This book also comes with a CD that provides sample SQL BI Development Project and a corresponding Data Warehouse database.

If you want a well written, highly structured, and clear explanations of MDX from simple to complex, then this book is the right book for you.

opinion sobre sql server 2008 mdx
El libro es excelente, permite introducirse en el tema desde cero y llegar a un nivel intermedio-alto. Lo recomiendo a todo el que quiera adentrarse en este tema

Good for new learner
This book is good start for new learner. However, if u looking of optimization and very tricky situation, this may not suite you.

It's good to see a book on MDX from MS Press
It's SQL Server 2008 MDX Step by Step and it delivers what you need to get your teeth into MDX. In the way most Step by Step books from Microsoft Press do, but I probably wouldn't recommend the book to people already fluent with MDX. ... Read more

Product Description
SQL Server 2000 is the latest and most powerful version of Microsoft's data warehousing and relational database management system. This new release is tightly integrated with Windows 2000 and offers more support for XML, as well as improved Analysis Services.

Professional SQL Server 2000 Programming provides a comprehensive guide to programming with SQL Server 2000, from a complete tutorial on Transact-SQL to an in-depth discussion of new features, such as indexed views, user-defined functions, and the wealth of new SQL Server features to support XML. Whether you're coming to SQL Server 2000 from another relational database management system, upgrading your existing system, or perhaps want to add programming skills to your DBA knowledge, you'll find what you need in this book to come to grips with SQL Server 2000 development.

Who is this book for:

This book is aimed at the SQL Server developer who wants to make the most out of the new features of SQL Server 2000. No knowledge of SQL Server is assumed, although in order to follow this book, you do need to have an understanding of programming basics such as variables, data types, and procedural programming. Database administration is also covered but only insofar as it affects the SQL Server developer.

What does this book cover?
* A complete introduction to Transact-SQL
* Database design issues
* Creating and using views, stored procedures, and user defined functions
* Responding to events with triggers
* Making your SQL Server secure
* Retrieving your data as XML
* An introduction to Analysis Services
* Moving data using Data Transformation Services and the bulk copy program
* Maintaining the integrity of distributed data with replication
* Querying a SQL Server database using English Query and Full-Text SearchAmazon.com Review
When it comes to selecting computer books, deciding which book to buy can sometimes be even more confusing than the software it is written about. However, if you are looking for a book to instruct you on the use of SQL Server 2000, Professional SQL Server 2000 Programming is an excellent choice.

In addition to providing a thorough treatment of SQL Server 2000 development, Rob Vieira's extensive reference also devotes quite a lot of space to covering SQL in general and issues relating to database design. Included is a complete introduction to Transact-SQL and an excellent chapter on normalization that will help demystify an over-referenced but much misunderstood database design concept. There is also in-depth information on the new features of SQL Server 2000, including indexed views, user-defined functions, and support of XML. Sadly, there's no accompanying CD-ROM, but source code for the book can be downloaded from the Wrox Web site.

While you don't need any knowledge of SQL Server or database administration to make the most of this book, you will need a reasonable understanding of programming fundamentals. That said, the author's down-to-earth style makes it possible for anyone with some programming background, and the will to learn, to really get comfortable with SQL Server 2000 development. If you are looking for a book that combines rich content with clear explanation, look no further. --Peter Lunn, Amazon.co.uk ... Read more

Customer Reviews (76)

Best overall SQL 2000 book
By far, this is the best overall MS SQL 2000 server book written until today.Most topics are covered from basic to advance level.This book is a must have for anyone who is looking to get a well rounded knowledge of what's possible with MS SQL 2000.

The chapters I liked the most are:
Ch9 SQL Server Storage and Index Structures
Ch10 Views
Ch12 Stored Procedures
Ch15 Triggers
Ch16 Advanced Queries
Ch26 Full-Text Search
Ch29 Performance Tuning
All Appendixes

Noticed that I said "best overall" & "Most topics"; this book will not have an answer for very advance topics in areas like DTS, performance tuning, XML, & Analysis Services.There are great books out there if what you are looking for is not in Professional SQL Server 2000 Programming.The "Professional SQL Server 2000 DTS" is the best I have read when it comes to Data Transformation Services. For performance tuning and XML you may find books written by Ken Henderson to be among the best. For Analysis Services I have not found one book I will recommend yet.

Not bad not good
In general the book is ok. The author needed to make more research in some areas and not made use only of his own experience.

He does not mention about the issues with no following ANSI 92. The stored procedures and the trigger parts are really boring.

Sometimes the book is good but the author likes to move into areas he should not or he is not proficient enough. His comments on normalization and security are sometimes so strong that I tend to think that this guy is watching just one side of the coin.

Ed

Tiny font
Excellent book, but the font is VERY small which makes reading difficult even though I do not have vision problems.

One of the best!!
I have this book and I can say it is the best SQL Server book I have ever read. It may even be the best Development/Computer book I have. Every chapter is easy to read, detailed and concise. The coverage is phenomenal. I use this for reference quite a bit. The only thing that is missing is more detail on DTS... but that is a book in itself.

Un-satisfied with this book
If you ever read this book: Joe Sack' SQL server 2000 Fast Answers for DBA and Developer, then you will see Vieira's book misses so many details about SQL server 2000. Understanding that this book focuses on PROGRAMMING only, but still it misses many PROGRAMMINGDETAILS of SQL server 2000. I do not have no connection to Joe Sack's business. I read and compare the two and speak out my mind. ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (10)

Good But Tough To Condense
The 'Oracle PL/SQL Language Pocket Reference' is a good pocket reference for Oracle 11g but I feel that this subject matter is tough to condense in size.I feel that this isn't a niche book that really accomplishes much.I'll still give it 4 stars because it's handy but I think you would be more apt to pick up one of the bigger Oracle PL/SQL books by O'Reilly instead.

****

New sections on Oracle's built-in functions rounds out the update.
Steven Feuerstein, Bill Pribyl and Chip Dawes' ORACLE PL/SQL LANGUAGE POCKET REFERENCE provides the fourth edition of a popular pocket guide which will serve as a quick reference in take-along tote format. PL/SQL's information covers records, functions, language elements and more, in a new edition that includes Oracle Database 11g elements from function results to compound triggers. New sections on Oracle's built-in functions rounds out the update.

Excellent reference for PL/SQL programming
Oracle PL/SQL Language Pocket Reference
Steven Feuerstein
O'Reilly - 4th Edition
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/9780596514044/index.html

This book covers the most common topics in PL/SQL in a compact format. The format is "pocket reference" which is considerably smaller than a standard book. The information is still complete. It appears the publisher accomplished this by eliminating blank pages between chapters, avoiding the use of large type for chapter headings, and beginning the next chapter a few lines after the previous. This format is convenient for people who need to use the reference often.

The items covered are numerous and relevant making the book a good value. The reference does not cover the SQL language itself outside the context of PL/SQL programming. It also does not go into extreme detail on how Oracle is working behind the scenes. It focuses on how to perform the task at hand then moves onto the next topic. This is good for those just looking for an answer but would not provide the detail to someone studying the inner workings of Oracle itself.

Some of the items covered that I found most useful were:

Cursors
Exception handling
Transaction management
Syntax of various loops and the case statement
Bulk operations
Packages
Procedures
Syntax of triggers
Differences between 9i and 10g
Functions

Overall this is an inexpensive, quality reference for those who program PL/SQL.

Great pocket reference, 2nd edition WITH INDEX now
This small booklet "ORACLE PL/SQL Language Pocket Reference" in this new 2nd edition is exactly what you need as PL/SQL (PL/SQL is the ORACLE procedural language extension of SQL) programmer (and is even more important for casual PL/SQL programmer).

"ORACLE PL/SQL Language Pocket Reference" assumes that you are running at least ORACLE 8i and it covers ORACLE 9i as well (ORACLE 9i features are marked as such).

The content and coverage of the book is very good from my perspective. Even the more exotic features that I just can't remember, like e.g. the AUTHID stuff for PL/SQL procedures, are covered in this book. Even if you do not remember the exact keyword to look something up in the index, the book is still small enough to brose over every page in a couple of minutes to find your solution. All of the ORACLE 9i features (that I know of) are explained like e.g. "bulk binds" (cool PL/SQL performance feature).

The language and the new index are very good.

Even though this is a relatively small book, there are examples for almost every topic covered (although not big ones).

This is NOT the right book to learn PL/SQL and it will not teach you any SQL. If you want to learn PL/SQL, I recommend the other books (by the same authors) from O'Reilly that are all VERY good.

anO'REILLY flop
Where's the index??A REFERENCE is something you pick up to find a particular needed peice of information. Without an index you have to scan everywhere trying to find what you are looking for.What a waste of time!Dont' even waste the 10 bucks for this piece of junk... ... Read more

Product Description

SQL Server 2008 Query Performance Tuning Distilled presents a direct trouble–shooting methodology for identifying poorly performing stored procedures and queries, isolating the causes of that poor performance, and fixing the underlying problems. Each chapter is dedicated to one of the top causes of poorly performing queries and shows methods for identifying and dealing with the problems in that chapter’s domain. Emphasis is always put upon or placed upon practical methods that you can put to immediate use in your day–to–day work. SQL Server 2008 functionality, tips, and tricks are emphasized in each subject area.

• Emphasizes the practical. Does not bury readers in theory.
• Gives readers practical techniques to immediately apply in their daily work.
• Dedicates a chapter to each of the most common, performance–related problem areas.

Customer Reviews (15)

SQL Server DBA Rave Review
From a Simple-Talk article to eBook on Query Plans help create a great book from Grant Fritchey. I met Grant at SQL PASS in 2008 and then at SQLSaturday in New York, where he demonstrated addictive enthusiasm about SQL Server. I bought this book as soon as it went on sell. This was a missing piece of information for the SQL Server community until Grant and Sajal brought this book to the market. Please buy and read this book if you are a DBA or developer that has to tune queries in your job.

Thanks,
Thomas LeBlanc, MCDBA & MCITP

SQL Server 2008 Query Performance Tuning Distilled
Book delivered quickly and in new condition.
The book is a clearly written book with detailed information.

Smarter for reading this book
One of the best things for me about this book was that I was able to read most of it while riding the bus to work. Grant did such a good job of explaining the results of each step, I was able to understand each point without trying it out for myself on a computer. I think I am pretty good with T-SQL and query tuning, but, by reading this book, I now have a methodical way to address performance problems.

A consummate approach to performance tuning with SQL Server
I found this book extremely valuable to me as a means of learning how to effectively tune SQL Server systems and workloads. I also expect it to continue providing value as a trusted reference resource. The insight provided regarding how the multitude of system processes interact and affect performance was clearly and concisely presented. Anyone developing for or administering a SQL Server based system will find significant value in reading this book. Overall it is a superb source of information providing tools, techniques, and an analysis framework to help address performance in a systematic and holistic manner. I would recommend this book to anyone dealing directly, or otherwise, with performance of a SQL Server instance or application. The introduction stated "With the right tools, you can tackle performance problems with a calmness and reliability..." and the book absolutely delivers in providing those tools. If you work with SQL Server you should have this book in your library and kept close at hand.

Performance Tuning actually distilled
A very good reference book on SQL server performance tuning on diverse directions.

On the initial chapters, you can find a good introduction on Performance tuning, Performance analysis and on the Database Engine Tuning Advisor. There are various analysis and optimization techniques explained in later chapters. There is comprehensive information about most common performance issues that occurs due to Query designs and deadlocks.

We can find more information on tuning indexes like when and where to apply what type of index.Later, the workload optimization techniques explains ways to identify and research expensive queries and jobs and "What not" to do to avoid performance issues. This book helps not only to write individual queries without any performance flaws, it also helps to find where the flaws are in existing queries. I would like to mention that there are good of examples of queries (which everyone look for) which make the reader to understand where performance issues or bottlenecks occur and what to do with it.

One good sense I had when I started reading the book is it isn't that hard to read through the book even you are new to performance tuning in SQL server. I would strongly recommend this book for all database performance professionals (Even the beginners in Performance Tuning).
... Read more

Product Description
Create and modify databases and keep them secure

Get up to speed on using T-SQL to store and manipulate data

SQL Server 2005 improves an already great database management system. This book shows you how to put it to work in a hurry. You'll find out how to use the SQL Server Management Studio and the SQLCMD utility to write T-SQL code, retrieve data from single or multiple SQL Server tables, add data using the INSERT statement, and much more.

* Create queries to retrieve data
*

Ensure SQL Server security
*

Use Visual Studio(r) 2005 with SQL Server
*

Create tables, views, and indexes
*

Work with Common Language Runtime
*

Query XML data ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

decent entry level book
this book did a pretty good dummy down explanation of the essentials. It did exactly what I needed it for, at a matching price too.

Simple book for my simple needs.
Let me say this: My needs were VERY simple at the time of purchase.I needed to learn to write some SQL queries, and understand (decipher) some that were already written.This was a good book for the purpose, especially for $2 used.It is NOT a good book for any serious in-depth understanding of SQL.

Not Good
The author seems like a senior expert, I respect that. However, this book doesn't cover some of the basic t-sql command in detail. When you see some commands that you have never seem them on the previous content, don't be surprised or think you miss something.

Good for beginners
I have a few months experience with SQL Server but was able to glean enough from this book to put together the stored procedures, views and security measures I needed for my ASP.NET application in about 2 days.This definitely opens up the door for going in many different directions for someone who doesn't have any experience with T-SQL.Some of the latter chapters assume a moderate familiarity with SQL Server and don't presume to explain any of these concepts.Having come with minimal experience on SQL Server to T-SQL I got somewhat lost in this area.I recommend you at least have read about or used SQL Server enough to make sense of these sections before delving into the final chapters.

Excellent-exactly what I had hoped for!
This book is excellent. I have not worked actively with databases in many years and was trying to learn more about SQL 2005 commands. The book is written in a very logical step-by-step way so you don't get lost or clobbered with a whole lot of lingo that makes you feel inept. Recommend this to anyone who is trying to get a good grip on the subject. ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (18)

Overall, well done
Very well written; examples are a bit goofy, perhaps, but the author is undeniably knowledgeable and has much to say both on commonly referenced mistakes - insufficient indexing - and also on less commonly known ones - like overindexing. Overall, the book covers the subject quite well.

If Sun Tzu Wrote SQL...
...he might write a book like "The Art of SQL". There are a lot of SQL books on the market - some of them very good. So why would there need to be a new book written about the subject? You know, when I first picked up this book I thought the very same thing. But then, after reading through it, I'm convinced that we need Stephane Faroult's "The Art of SQL."

This book deals with SQL performance through the lens of Sun Tzu's venerable treatise "The Art of War." For those who do not know it, "The Art of War" is an ancient Chinese military treatise written during the 6th century BC by Sun Tzu. It consists of 13 chapters; each one is devoted to a single aspect of warfare. Many view it as the definitive work on military strategies and tactics. This ancient book is still being read and followed to this day. For such a work to still be viable thousands of years later is a credit to its usefulness and importance.

It is also noteworthy that there have been several attempts by various authors to translate Sun Tzu's tenets into modern day applications such as business philosophy and sales training, but this new book is the first that I know of to translate these concepts into database programming and SQL. The author actually uses the exact same title chapters for The Art of SQL that Sun Tzu used in The Art of War. Amazingly enough, the tactic works.

Consider, for example, the chapter titled "Laying Plans," in which Faroult examines how to design databases for performance. As anyone who ever built database applications knows an improperly designed database can be the biggest impediment to flawless application performance.

The chapter titled "Tactical Dispositions" covers the topic of indexing and in "The Nine Situations" the author examines several calssic SQL patterns and how best to approach them.

This book is not for a novice who wants to learn SQL from scratch. The author assumes the reader is conversant with SQL as he describes how to apply SQL in a practical manner. If you can't code an outer join or don't know what a nested table expression or in-line view is, then this is not the book for you.

Neither is the book a list of SQL scripts that you can pluck out and use. Instead, The Art of SQL skillfully manages to explain how to properly attack the job of coding SQL to effectively and efficiently access your data. The book offers best practices that teach experienced SQL users to focus on strategy rather than specifics.

As the author points out, "You need knowledge, you need skills, and you need talent. Talent cannot be taught, but it can be nurtured. This is what most strategists, from Sun Tzu to modern-day generals, have believed." And now Faroult's book, The Art of SQL, is there to help nurture your talent.

An excellent book to read after you think you know databases
This is a book in a somewhat-similar vein to Effective C++: 55 Specific Ways to Improve Your Programs and Designs (3rd Edition) (Addison-Wesley Professional Computing Series): it spends most of its time shining light on the dark nooks and crannies of database design and query optimization, and assumes that you've already at least learned that those dark nooks and crannies exist.

It is also written with the database programmer in mind, rather than the database administrator.There are not many books written for us, and I'm really pleased that one of them is a book this excellent.

Excellent
This book is very well written and goes into depth on the practical reasons behind best-practices as well as real-world examples.

This is the book to have if you want to discover better practices for your SQL
This book review was submitted by a Roanoke Valley SQL Server Users Group member as part of the Book Review Program.

Reviewed by Jerry Ellis

The Art of SQL does not fall into the trap of becoming "just another reference" for SQL users. It tackles real world problems with the point of view that you know how to write SQL code, but may need help in the proper tactics to most effectively handle them. What is refreshing is that it does not say here is a piece of code that will do this...it says, that may work, but here is a better way and why.

This is the book to have if you want to discover better practices for your SQL.

Jerry Ellis
... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (2)

content good, but WAY too many typos in code samples
I bought this looking for a good, cheap PL/SQL reference guide.I was happy to see the subject matter covered thoroughly but quickly, assuming basic knowledge of both general programing language constructs and SQL.

On the other hand, many (OK, not a majority or anything, but enough to significantly annoy me) of the code samples include blatant typos.I have not gone looking for the actual downloadable code what goes with the book, so it is possible the typos were fixed there.

VERY VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!
Do you have the tools to create, debug and execute PL/SQL code? If you don't, then this book is for you. Authors John Garmany and Don Burleson, have done an outstanding job of writing a book that will introduce you to the power and capability of Oracle's Procedural Language extensions to Structured Query Language or PL/SQL.

Garmany and Burleson, begin with an introduction to what PL/SQL is and how to use it. Then, the authors deal with structures that alter the program flow. Next, they cover creating and using PL/SQL procedures and functions. They also focus on using PL/SQL to interact with data in the database. Finally, the authors covered a lot of advanced PL/SQL topics from collections and bulk operation, to packages and triggers.

In this most excellent book is designed to be a high-level introduction to PL/SQL. Perhaps more importantly, this book will help you put the incredible power of the Oracle Database to use with your application. ... Read more

Product Description
If you’re a database administrator, you know Microsoft SQL Server 2008 is revolutionizing database development. Get up to speed on SQL Server 2008, impress your boss, and improve your company’s data management — read Microsoft SQL Server 2008 For Dummies!

SQL Server 2008 lets you build powerful databases and create database queries that give your organization the information it needs to excel. Microsoft SQL Server 2008 For Dummies helps you build the skills you need to set up, administer, and troubleshoot SQL Server 2008. You’ll be able to:

• Develop and maintain a SQL Server system
• Design databases with integrity and efficiency
• Turn data into information with SQL Server Reporting Services
• Organize query results, summarizing data with aggregate functions and formatting output
• Import large quantities of data with SSIS
• Keep your server running smoothly
• Protect data from prying eyes
• Develop and implement a disaster recovery plan
• Improve performance with database snapshots
• Automate SQL Server 2008 administration

Microsoft SQL Server 2008 For Dummies is a great first step toward becoming a SQL Server 2008 pro! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Good, but needs more examples!
I learned alot about SQL Server from going through this book. It really leaves out all the clutter in other books. However, you don't get enough practice with this book because the author already assumes you can create the stuff he's talking about without giving you the opportunity to try it out yourself. The first 200 pages uses examples with databases that you don't have enough knowledge to create until page 160. If the author had a page where you could download all the sample databases that he uses or if he took the time to walk you through creating some of the sample databases, then this could have been a much better book. Overall, it's still a great book, but I had to use another book to really get the practice missing in this book.

Quick response.
I received this item very quickly. The book is in very good condition. I will buy from this person again.

Nicely written but not enough there there
The author is a good writer, he's well organized,he get's his point across well - the problem is that he doesn't do it enough. This isa nice introduction to MS SQL but its simply too short and ultimately too lightweight for the subject. There are other good beginners manuals out there that, if they aren't as entertaining, are more useful. Dummies cut the legs out from under this text by keeping it so compact - too bad, if he'd had more room he undoubtedly could have created a excellent manual.

Good, solid admin guide
First, I have to come clean. I am a content developer by trade, have worked on a few of Mike's books in the past, and have contracted with him several times to develop some online courses for my clients. Even so, I'll try to be as unbiased as possible, but it'll be hard because Mike is *such* a good author.

"Microsoft SQL Server 2008 for Dummies" is a solid, well-organized guide for using SQL Server. It's not geared for developers or programmers (unless they want to pick up administration skills), but you can learn how to create and manipulate databases in addition to installing and maintaining a database server. The writing is easy to follow and describes concepts consisely and clearly, which is Mike's classic style. Mike also uses a lot of examples and imagery, which helps immensely to guide you through some of the more difficult techniques.

The book is chockful of practical information about running and using SQL Server, but lacks the humor and clever headings found in many of the For Dummies books. If you're a "just the facts" kind of person who wants to learn how to use SQL Server and doesn't care much about novel headings, grab this book. At about $30 (USD) retail, it's a great value considering the breadth of topics covered. The only thing I would've liked to see expanded is the Troubleshooting chapter. Even though I was an IT book project editor for several years, and even worked on a handful of For Dummies books, I generally don't use IT books until something goes wrong. Then I pore through them, usually on Safari Books Online, beginning with the troubleshooting information. For the next version of Microsoft SQL Server for Dummies, I suggest adding at least two or three examples of log file entries that indicate a medium to serious problem, or some real-world situations or database meltdowns, and what to do about them.

Overall, thanks for another great book Mike! ... Read more

Product Description

Sams Teach Yourself SQL in 21 Days, Fourth Edition provides a sold foundation in understanding the fundamentals of SQL (Structured Query Language).SQL is the query language used by relational databases such a Oracle, Microsoft Access, and Microsoft SQL Server.The new edition covers object-oriented programming with SQL, ODBC, JDBC, embedded SQL, accessing remote databases, and constructs.All new examples based on an open source database such as MySQL enhance this new edition by making the examples readily useable for readers.

Customer Reviews (24)

Good information but too many errors
Sam Teach Yourself SQL in 21 days looks like a rough draft. In Chapter 4, a DB called 'Conversions' is used but in the examples "From Convert" is used. One cannot reference a DB by the wrong name. This occurs again in Chapter 6 on Joining DBs where a 'PARTS' DB is referred to in examples as 'PART'.There are other errors of various types. I am constantly having to error check why an example does not work. If one likes troubleshooting this is a good book to practice with. Also the index does not allow one to look up 'DECIMAL', and some other terms that would be good to reference . If the book had been adequately edited, it would be a much better book to study from.

Great Book
great book for a beginner.
SAMS Teach Yourself SQL in 21 days,
I am happy that I have bought this book.
Best regards,
Thomas
Germany

Good for reading...better for reference
"Teach Yourself in 21 Days" should imply to most that this isn't the book that is going to go over every topic in fine detail.You aren't going to become a SQL genius in 21 days, anyway.It gives a good broad range of topics.But also, if you don't know what SQL is or haven't seen a little, then you probably won't understand what you are learning.The samples and the code in this book seemed to work for me.I mostly use it as a reference to look up the correct syntax for code I don't use all the time.

Very Helpful
I used this book a few years ago when I began learning SQL. The book is pretty good. It helped me learn and understand sql. The book even talks about PL/SQL and Transact-SQL. Read it and pay close attention to the statements and you will get most of it. If you can download an oracle database software for free, install it annd practice what you are learning from the book. Practic helped me a lot to learn quickly.

Beginners beware of typos
This is a good book for beginners but also gets you on the path to more advanced SQL programming.However, beginners beware: I think I found a programming typo in nearly every chapter of the book.The most glaring to me was in Day 14 (p. 340) when a column named "NEW_TOTAL" was referenced in view LATE_PAYMENT (created from table BILLS).BILLS has an AMOUNT field but no NEW_TOTAL field.I have over 20 years programming experience and I had to disregard this entire example.I fear beginners will miss these types of mistakes.If this is one of the better books available (as stated by a previous reviewer), then I'm not sure what book to buy.No typos should exist in a book designed to teach programming. ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (37)

Seller is not reliable
I paid one day delivery for the textbook on Sep 1. On September 9 the textbooks has not been shipped yet. Not advising to have any business with this seller.

Quick, organized, and clear starter guide
This book was fun to go through. It was clear and had questions at the end to keep you honest - I always like that in technical books. I don't know why more don't do it. It's the kind of book that, by the end, you feel like you've always understood the concepts.

100% Recomendado
Soy de Mexico y la verdad es que la calidad del producto ha sido realmente satisfactoria, y en cuanto al servicio de envio mas que excelente.

Good to have
It is an intro to the SQL database and very easy to read and good to have as beginners and intermediate level. Book condition is as said.

Good book for begineers
I would recommend this book to anyone who is starting to learn SQL.

This book is a begineers book teaching various SQL statements like SELECT, INSERT, DELETE. The book starts off withthe available database models like Network, Object and Heirarchical models and then goes ahead and explains the commands. The commands are written for MySQL which is freely available for download and install. The author also explains the variations in Oracle and SQL Server where appropriate.

The commands are grouped together and covered one by one. The topics covered are statements like SELECT, INSERT, DELETE, aggregate functions, joining more than one table, set operations like union, intersection, views, indexes, constraints, transaction etc.

There is also "Test your knowledge" at the end of each chapter which helps you to reinforce what you just learnt with the solutions at the end of the book in case you are struck and don't know how to proceed.

This book just introduces all the beginners concept in a nice way. The examples are simple to follow and learn.

PROS : Covers all SQL commands, Show different variations among Database vendors

CONS : Begineer book (no indepth knowledge) ... Read more