Since its introduction over a decade ago, the Microsoft SQL Server query language, Transact-SQL, has become increasingly popular and more powerful. The current version sports such advanced features as OLE Automation support, cross-platform querying facilities, and full-text search management.

This book is the consummate guide to Microsoft Transact-SQL. From data type nuances to complex statistical computations to the bevy of undocumented features in the language, The Guru's Guide to Transact-SQL imparts the knowledge you need to become a virtuoso of the language as quickly as possible.

In this book, you will find the information, explanations, and advice you need to master Transact-SQL and develop the best possible Transact-SQL code. Some 600 code examples not only illustrate important concepts and best practices, but also provide working Transact-SQL code that can be incorporated into your own real-world DBMS applications.

Your journey begins with an introduction explaining language fundamentals such as database and table creation, inserting and updating data, queries, joins, data presentation, and managing transactions. Moving on to more advanced topics, the journey continues with in-depth coverage of:

• Transact-SQL performance tuning using tools such as Query Analyzer and Performance Monitor
• Nuances of the various T-SQL data types
• Complex statistical calculations such as medians, modes, and sliding aggregates
• Run, sequence, and series identification and interrogation
• Advanced Data Definition Language (DDL) and Data Management Language (DML) techniques
• Stored procedure and trigger best practices and coding methods
• Transaction management
• Optimal cursor use and caveats to look out for
• Full-text search
• Hierarchies and arrays
• Administrative Transact-SQL
• OLE Automation
• More than 100 undocumented commands and language features, including numerous unpublished DBCC command verbs, trace flags, stored procedures, and functions

Comprehensive, written in understandable terms, and full of practical information and examples, The Guru's Guide to Transact-SQL is an indispensable reference for anyone working with this database development language. The accompanying CD-ROM includes the complete set of code examples found in the book as well as a SQL programming environment that will speed the development of your own top-notch Transact-SQL code.

Average Customer Review: ( 240 customer reviews )
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The best chapters, are, IMHO, these:
- DML Insights
- DDL Insights
- The Mighty SELECT
- Statistical Functions
- Transactions
- Cursors
- Sets
- Arrays
- Stored Procedures and Triggers
- T-SQL Performance Tuning
- Administrative T-SQL
- OLE Automation
- Undocumented T-SQL

There's so much good info in this book, it's hard to pick a list of the "best chapters." To be sure, there's not a weak chapter in the book, and you should read every last one of them.

[...] This book is a must-read for anyone serious about coding in Transact-SQL.

73 of 75 found the following review helpful:

The ultimate Transact-SQL magnum opusMay 02, 2000
By Luke Miller
Because it was called a "Guru's Guide" I didn't know whether this book expected me to already be a guru or whether it was claiming that it was written by one. Luckily for me, it was the latter.

Myself, I'm relatively new to Transact-SQL. When I got this book, I very much considered myself a beginner. I'd only begun working in T-SQL about a year and a half ago.

I can honestly say that this book was so full of great information that I began moving to the next level almost immediately. The author pulls no punches and delivers on his committment to avoid filler material throughout. This is a dense, gem-packed treatise on the language that belongs in the library of every would-be Transact-SQL expert.

Favorite parts:

- Cursor chapter (the story of the ill-fated SQL Server conversion is priceless -- I have been there, I have been there...)

- Performance & Tuning chapter (could be a book unto itself)

- Undocumented T-SQL chapter (because I like hidden goodies)

- Preface (because it's honest)

If you want to be a Transact-SQL coder or DBA worth your money, get this book and learn its many secrets inside out.

35 of 35 found the following review helpful:

If you buy one SQL Server book, buy this oneApr 05, 2000
By Dave Stillman
I bought this book not knowing what to expect. The title seemed a little pretentious to me. Well, I was wrong. This is a _great_ book -- one of the best computer books I've ever read. The coverage of Transact-SQL is so deep that I seem to glean something new each time I pick up the book. I've been working with MS SQL since 4.2, and I thought I knew all the in's and out's of the language. I was wrong about that, too. The book showed me just how little I knew.

The chapter on undocumented T-SQL alone is worth the cost of the book and taught me loads I didn't know. All those hidden DBCCs, trace flags, and undocumented stored procedures were fun to discover and will definitely come in handy. Without reservation, I can recommend this book to anyone looking for the ultimate tome on SQL Server's Transact-SQL.

41 of 42 found the following review helpful:

Great book and a great CD, tooApr 05, 2000
By Charlotte McGovern
I loved this book. I've already ordered several more copies to use with the classes I teach. Henderson is practical, scholarly, thorough, and often quite funny. The quotes that begin each chapter are insightful as well as humorous and give us some insight into who the man behind the book is. I like technical books that I can connect to on a personal level.

As for technical merits, you will have to look very hard for a better T-SQL book. I have most of the T-SQL books out there and the Guru's Guide beats them hands down. Henderson includes everything but the kitchen sink without being overwrought. I especially like the chapters on cursors and transactions. I never really understood the fine details of transactions until I read this book. Also very handy was the chapter on full text searches via T-SQL. I'd always wanted to know how to use this powerful facility in my own code, but had never really delved into how to go about it. The Guru's Guide makes it easy.

Lastly, I really liked the free T-SQL programming environment the author included. It's apparently one he wrote himself (!) It beats the pants off Query Analyzer, runs faster, and has features we could only dream of in QA (block indention, comment spell check, scripting, keyboard macros, etc., etc.). My team and I have switched to it as our main T-SQL development environment and have realized some real productivity gains in doing so. The author could easily sell this package and make real money from it. If you want a great book and a tremendous CD value, get the Guru's Guide.

47 of 49 found the following review helpful:

Not just for guru's -- want to learn TSQL? Read it!Sep 28, 2000
By Don Feticelli
What really sets this book apart from the other SQL Server books I have is the attention to detail. There is no stone left unturned in terms of the language -- it's many quirks, nuances, and hidden features. From a collection of sprocs that implement better soundex routines than SOUNDEX(), to the gory details of cursors and transactions, to over a hundred undocumented routines/features of the language, this book has it all.

I spoke with the author at a conference this past weekend and asked whether any of the techniques he mentioned in his speeches were also in his book. When he told me all of them were, I went out and purchased the book immediately. Holy Toledo!! The book is an expert's catalog of all that's worth knowing about Transact-SQL! I was blown away by all the code. I've never seen a programming book of any kind with so many examples, let alone a database programming book.

I've learned so many new techniques with this book. For example, I had no idea you could perform OLE Automation with Transact-SQL. The sp_GenerateSQL procedure is a real gem -- it uses Automation to control SQL Server's SQL-DMO interface and basically do anything Enterprise Manager can do (all from T-SQL!). I now use this procedure anytime I need to generate an SQL script for an object -- no need to fire up EM.

The row-positioning queries are priceless too. Who knew you could compute the median of a distribution set of any size with just a few lines of T-SQL? Who knew how to perform complex operations results with T-SQL? I had no idea.

Last by not least, the Undocumented T-SQL chapter is worthy of its own book. It uncovers all sorts of hidden stored procedures, functions, trace flags and the like to give you access to the same tools the SQL Server developers themselves use. I love it.

Bottom line: this is a wonderfully practical and comprehensive guide to the language, written by a T-SQL guru for those who would become T-SQL gurus themselves.

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