Book recommendations?

[blueghost73]

I do software support for software that works with both Oracle and SQL
Server, so I mostly just write queries to look at the data related to
the software. When I first started, I bought a couple of books to learn
the basics, intentionally going with generic books that would help with
both types of databases. I've got the basics down, and now I'm looking
for a really detailed reference book that goes really indepth into
querying for SQL Server specifically. Currently, we only work with the
2000 version, but we'll be going to 2005 soon, so I think I'd rather go
with a book on 2005, although if you know one that covers the
differences between them, that would be great. Any recommendations?

Besides just writing queries, I'd also like to learn more about SQL
Server in general. DBA software support, so I'd like to head my
career in that direction. I was looking at Microsoft's new
certification path for SQL 2005. Given that my company won't pay to
send me for training, and I really don't want to have to put down
$2200+ to pay for a class, I was thinking that I might be able to learn
enough on my own to pass the first test and get the MCTS title. I
ordered the Training Kit from Microsoft Press for that, which comes
with a 180 day trial of SQL Server 2005 to play with, along with a huge
book. Does anyone have any other recommendations for resources to help
learn this stuff?

--Richard

[Erland Sommarskog]

bl*********@yahoo.com (bl*********@yahoo.com) writes:

I do software support for software that works with both Oracle and SQL
Server, so I mostly just write queries to look at the data related to
the software. When I first started, I bought a couple of books to learn
the basics, intentionally going with generic books that would help with
both types of databases. I've got the basics down, and now I'm looking
for a really detailed reference book that goes really indepth into
querying for SQL Server specifically. Currently, we only work with the
2000 version, but we'll be going to 2005 soon, so I think I'd rather go
with a book on 2005, although if you know one that covers the
differences between them, that would be great. Any recommendations?

The ultimate book on writing queries on SQL 2005 simply must be "Inside
T-SQL Querying" by Itzik Ben-Gan on Microsoft Press. If there is a problem
he can't write a query for, then there is simple is no query to write - or
the query is not worth writing. I'm just about to read the book myself,
so I cannot say how much he compares with SQL 2000.
--
Erland Sommarskog, SQL Server MVP, es****@sommarskog.se

Books Online for SQL Server 2005 at
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/pro...ads/books.mspx
Books Online for SQL Server 2000 at
http://www.microsoft.com/sql/prodinf...ons/books.mspx

[Alexander Kuznetsov]

According to Amazon, Ken Henderson is not even planning to release a
book about 2005 yet. What a pity.

[metaperl]

Erland Sommarskog wrote:

>
The ultimate book on writing queries on SQL 2005 simply must be "Inside
T-SQL Querying" by Itzik Ben-Gan on Microsoft Press.

Here's a link to the book:
http://www.microsoft.com/MSPress/books/9615.asp

and the actual title is:
"Inside Microsoft® SQL Server™ 2005: T-SQL Querying"

[blueghost73]

metaperl wrote:

Erland Sommarskog wrote:

The ultimate book on writing queries on SQL 2005 simply must be "Inside
T-SQL Querying" by Itzik Ben-Gan on Microsoft Press.

Here's a link to the book:
http://www.microsoft.com/MSPress/books/9615.asp

and the actual title is:
"Inside Microsoft® SQL Server™ 2005: T-SQL Querying"

So apparently, there's a consensus that this is THE book for T-SQL.
That's just odd. I've been using Usenet for 15 years, and I've never
seen an agreement before. Where's the usual flame war? :P

In looking into this book, I noticed that the author posted some
comments on amazon.com that the rest of you might be interested in.
Here they are:

----
FAQ - what's the difference between the two books ("T-SQL Querying" and
"T-SQL Programming")?

I often get this question, so I'll use this opportunity to clarify
things.

The original intention was to cover T-SQL Querying and Programming in
one book, but we realized that it would end up with 1,200 - 1,300
pages. So we decided to split the content into two books. You can think
of T-SQL Querying as Volume 1 and of T-SQL Programming as Volume 2.

T-SQL Querying focuses on querying and query tuning/optimization.
T-SQL Programming focuses on programmatic constructs (T-SQL and CLR
routines, XML, Service Broker, Dynamic SQL, Cursors, etc.).

Make sure you read T-SQL Querying before T-SQL Programming.

Here's the TOC for T-SQL Querying:
Chapter 01 - Logical Query Processing
Chapter 02 - Physical Query Processing
Chapter 03 - Query Tuning
Chapter 04 - Subqueries, Table Expressions and Ranking Functions
Chapter 05 - Joins and Set Operations
Chapter 06 - Aggregating and Pivoting Data
Chapter 07 - TOP and APPLY
Chapter 08 - Data Modification
Chapter 09 - Graphs, Trees, Hierarchies and Recursive Queries
Appendix A - Logic Puzzles

And here's the TOC for T-SQL Programming:
Chapter 01 - Datatype Related Problems, XML, and CLR UDTs
Chapter 02 - Temporary Tables and Table Variables
Chapter 03 - Cursors
Chapter 04 - Dynamic SQL
Chapter 05 - Views

T-SQL and CLR Routines:
Chapter 06 - User Defined Functions
Chapter 07 - Stored Procedures
Chapter 08 - Triggers

Chapter 09 - Transactions
Chapter 10 - Exception Handling
Chapter 11 - Service Broker
Appendix A - Companion to CLR Routines

Let me know if you have any questions.

Itzik
----
Hi all,

You can find detailed info about the book at www.insidetsql.com
including: TOC, Sample Chapters (just uploaded), Source Code, Links to
Related Resources, Corrections, Letter to the Reader, Author BIOs.
Please let me know if the organization of the website is convenient for
you or if you think that some things should be changed/added. Also, I'd
be glad to get any comments/questions regarding the book. You can
contact me through the website or through
it***@solidqualitylearning.com.

Cheers,
Itzik
----