Murach's SQL Server 2005 for Developers

Features

• Cover Type: Paperback with 702 pages
• Published by: Mike Murach & Associates December 22, 2006
• Written in: English
• ISBN 10 Number: 1890774391
• ISBN 13 Number: 978-1890774394
• Book Dimensions: 9.8 x 8 x 1.7 inches
• Weighs: 3 pounds

Book Description


If you want to learn SQL, you've picked the right book. Unlike most SQL books, this one starts by showing you how to use SQL queries to extract and update the data in a database, because that's what every application developer requirements to know first. Then, it shows how to design and implement a database, how to use server-side features like views, stored procedures, cursors, and transactions, and how to use the CLR integration feature (new in SQL Server 2005) to create database objects in a .NET language like C# or Visual Basic.

With this breadth of material, this book works well for application developers and SQL programmers, but it's also a great first book for DBAs-in-training.

Publisher Description


The SQL book that most developers don't even know they need - that's how I think of this book.

To be an effective application developer, you need to master SQL for the database you're going to be using. But many developers get by with the SQL they know, never realizing how much they're missing out on.

So this is first a book for developers who use Microsoft SQL Server as their DBMS (though it can help you if you want to master standard SQL, too). No matter how much SQL experience you have, you'll find new features that you haven't been taking advantage of.

In section 1, you'll learn the concepts and terms you need for working with any database. You'll also learn how to use the Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Management Studio to work with queries and databases. At that point, you'll be prepared for rapid progress as you learn SQL.

In section 2, you'll learn all the skills for retrieving data from a database and for adding, updating, and deleting that data. These skills move from the simple to the complex so you will not have any trouble if you're a SQL novice. And they present skills like using outer joins, summary queries, and subqueries that will raise your SQL expertise if you do have SQL experience.

In section 3, you'll learn how to design a database and how to implement that design by using either SQL DDL (Data Definition Language) statements or the Management Studio. When you're done, you'll be able to design and implement your own databases. But even if you're never called upon to do that, this section will give you perspective that will make you a better SQL developer.

Section 4 presents the skills for working with database features like views, stored procedures, functions, triggers, cursors, transactions, and security. It also teaches you how to use the enhanced SQL features for working with XML data. These are the features that give a database management system much of its power and that give you an extra edge in your SQL skills.

To complete your SQL Server skills, section 5 shows you how to use the CLR integration feature that's new in SQL Server 2005. This feature allows you to create database objects like stored procedures and user-defined types using any .NET language, like C# or Visual Basic.

Reader Reviews
[...] ...Ok, so it's a book on SQL Server 2005, that's obvious. But why is it interesting compared to so many other such books? The main reason is that it is very approachable - there is not a lot of dense text, just simple explanations of how things work. This makes it a fairly quick read. The other feature this book has which separates it from the pack, which I LOVE is Murach's standard layout pattern with explanation on the left page and code samples and figures on the right page. This is an extremely easy to use format for technical how-to manuals, because the code and the explanation are always together, with no page-flipping required. In reference to another reviewer's comment, this book does cover SQL quite a bit. It is not about using the GUI or being an admin so much as how to actually work with SQL. Comment | | (Report this)