Pro T-SQL 2008 Programmer's Guide

Discussing new and existing features, SQL Server designer and administrator Michael Coles takes you on an expert guided tour of Transact–SQL functionality in SQL Server 2008 in his book, Pro T–SQL 2008 Programmer’s Guide. Fully functioning examples and downloadable source code bring Coles’ technically accurate and engaging treatment of Transact–SQL into your own hands. Step–by–step explanations ensure clarity, and an advocacy of best–practices will steer you down the road to success.

Pro T–SQL 2008 Programmer’s Guide is every developer’s key to making full use of SQL Server 2008’s powerful, built–in Transact–SQL language. Transact–SQL is the language developers and DBAs use to interact with SQL Server. It’s used for everything from querying data, to writing stored procedures, to managing the database. New features in SQL Server 2008 include a spatial data type, SQLCLR integration, the MERGE statement, a dramatically improved and market–leading XML feature set, and support for encryption—all of which are covered in this book

What you’ll learn

• Write stored procedures, functions, and triggers using Transact–SQL
• Apply best–practices when centralizing procedural logic inside your SQL Server database
• Seamlessly work with XML data using XQuery, XPath, and the XML type
• Use SQLCLR to write .NET code that runs inside SQL Server
• Implement full–text search within your database
• Load data more efficiently using the MERGE statement
• Learn about the new geography type for storing spatial data

Pro T–SQL 2008 Programmer’s Guide is written for SQL Server and Transact–SQL developers who want to implement best–practices and take full advantage of all that SQL Server has to offer. .NET programmers will find the book helpful in showing how to run .NET code within SQL Server. Database administrators who need to write triggers and the occasional stored procedure will also benefit from the book.

Skill with the Transact-SQL language is key to any developer making use of Microsoft SQL Server. Written especially for developers, the Pro T-SQL 2008 Programmer’s Guide shows developers the full range of what’s possible using the language. Readers become fully-grounded in the language, in the key features that SQL Server has to offer, and they are introduced to best-practices that will help ensure their success.

Michael Coles has over a decade’s experience designing and administering SQL Server databases. A prolific writer of articles on all aspects of SQL Server, particularly on the expert use of T–SQL, he holds MCDBA and MCP certifications. He received a bachelor’s of science (magna cum laude) in information technology from American Intercontinental University. A member of the United States Army Reserve, he was activated for two years following 9/11.