The Guru's Guide to SQL Server Stored Procedures, XML, and Html

by Ken Henderson

SQL Server developers worldwide raved about Ken Henderson's The Guru's Guide to Transact-SQL: its exceptionally clear, conversational explanations, and its powerfully useful projects and code examples. This book helps SQL Server developers take the next step -- building more powerful, robust applications than ever before. Henderson identifies several key areas of SQL Server development that offer the greatest power -- and then covers each...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0201700468
• ISBN13: 9780201700466
• Release Date: December 2001
• Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional
• Length: 800 Pages
• Weight: 2.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.6" x 7.3" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

For professional developers

It's funny that no one thought of this before but the book has a message that is unique and new...writing code for Sql Server has to be approached like writing code for any other platform: as an engineering discipline. I had never heard this preached until I red this book, but am now a firm beleiver in it.I have Henderson's other book and this one is a nice follow-up. there is naturaly some overlap between this book and the TSql book but not much. this one gets into coding conventions and version control, extended procs, design patterns and of course SqlXml...things the first book doesn't talk about. I look at this book as the big brother to the first one. It's more serious and more for the professional developer as opposed to being more of a dictionary of solutions to difficult TSql problems.I also really liked the undocumented TSql chapter. This was my favorite chapter in Henderson's last book and this version of it has some new tricks and secrets. Just knowing about these will make you a better DBA because you will have a better understanding of what is happening under the hood.

A masterful book written by a master coder

Words can't begin to express what this book has meant to me. I am a developer who came to Sql Server late in life after a career writing COBOL, then DBase/Clipper, then FoxPro. I've watched the industry change, but have never really had the handle on all of it that this guy does. The book is ingenious. It takes Transact-Sql and gives it the hardcore language treatment. No one has ever done that before. I have all the other T-Sql books and, with the exception of Henderson's previous book, none come close to this one. You take Henderson's two Sql Server books and you have all you need to master Sql Server's programming language, Transact-Sql. Who talks about version control with Transact-Sql? Henderson does. Who gets into design patterns in stored procedures? Henderson does. Who discusses testing at length in an Sql book? Henderson does. Who shows how to add useful features to the language such as native array handling? Henderson does. Who would dare discuss how .NET relates to T-Sql development? Henderson does. Who talks about how eXtreme Programming applies to T-Sql developers? You know the answer. This is THE book to have if you want to master the T-Sql language.

Another great Ken Henderson SQL book

I bought the first Guru's Guide -- The Guru's Guide to Transact SQL -- as a way to fine-tune my SQL skills when I began a new job as a SQL Server Admin / Developer. Nearly two years later, I still find myself reaching for that book for almost every unique SQL problem that I encounter, and I am rarely disappointed. When I saw that Henderson had written another SQL book, I expected another winner. I was not disappointed.The coverage of stored procedures, user-defined functions, and XML was first-rate. And the relatively short chapter on .NET was loaded with reasons why every SQL Server developer should be embracing this new techology.The Essays on Software Engineering were extremely well-written. The intermingling of personal experiences and reflection with the technical details of the topics was done just right. It added a certain amount of relevance to the section that made it feel less like a theoretical lecture and more like the sharing of information by a well-respected colleague. One who has obviously experienced these things and knows what he is talking about. On the surface, these essays may seem a bit out of place in a book about Stored Procedures and XML but, in fact, they fit very well with the overall theme of the book: SQL and Stored Procedure development is "real" software engineering and needs to be treated as such if you are going to be good at it.

One of the best programming books I have ever read

This is the first SQL Server book that I can call a "real" programming book. It's not surprising that it comes from Addison-Wesley, the most prominent publisher of such books. In the spirit of Kernighan and Ritchie, Pike, Thomas and Hunt, Jon Bentley, and Erich Gamma, this is a thinker's Transact-SQL programming book. It begins with a wonderful overview of all that is worth knowing about stored procedure programming in Transact-SQL. This is the best "in a nutshell" discussion I've seen of stored procedure programming. It is better than most whole books dedicated to the subject.It moves on to coding conventions and source code management, two oft-neglected topics in the world of SQL Server. For some reason, most of us don't usually treat Transact-SQL as though it were true source code, but Henderson makes the compelling case that it is indeed, and he has convinced me.Next, is one of the crown jewels of the book: design patterns. For anyone who has read any of the patterns books out there (e.g., Erich Gamma, John V., etc.), this will seem like an epiphany. You'll go, "Of course! Why didn't I think of that?!"From here, we move on to database design. This is the best hands-on, practical guide to database design that I've ever seen. Henderson distills, in one chapter, all that you need to know to build complex business models, entity-relationship diagrams, and relational data models. What I like most about this is that Henderson doesn't start with physical modeling. He starts with the business processes the app that will use the database must encompass, then shows how to extrapolate business process flow charts, E-R diagrams, logical data models, and, finally physical data models. You start with nothing but an application concept and end up with a fully-functional SQL Server database. If you ever wanted to learn database modeling and design from the ground-up, this is your chance.Next, is the objects section. Here, individual chapters cover Views (normal, partitioned and indexed), UDFs (lots of great code here including how to create your own system and vector functions -- e.g., MEDIAN()), triggers (normal, instead of, auditing), and error handling. Transact-SQL error handling is an oft-misunderstood area of the language. Henderson shines a light on it and shares what the masters know.The SQLXML section is the second crown jewel of the book. When I saw that Henderson was covering SQLXML in his new book, I guess I should have guessed he would cut no corners, but, honestly, this section by itself is better than every other SQLXML book I've read. That's right - this one section of the book is better than other whole books dedicated to the subject. The introduction to XML is as good a synopsis of the language as you will find. The chapters covering the individual SQLXML features are also better than I've seen elsewhere. In true Henderson tradition, they are readable, in-depth, and thorougly engaging.The advanced section is exactly t

Henderson takes it to a new level

I never thought I'd say this but this book is even better than the first Gurus Guide book! Henderson cuts loose and just writes. It feels like you've got the guru sitting right next to as you read. As with his first book, Henderson runs a tight ship with this one. There's no fluff or other filler material. Instead, you just get the goods, and you get them by the boatload.My fav things about this one are:* Extended Proc coverage. I've always wondered how to build these. The coverage in this book is absolutely excellent. It could be a book unto itself.* XML coverage. I've never seen a better cut-to-the-chase introduction to XML and the XML features in SQL Server. It's a wonderful, hands-on tutorial written by a master.* Emphasis on treating transact-sql as a real language. Henderson stresses this over and over and he's right. This book is every bit as good as the high-end programming books that feature languages like C++ and Java.* Essays on software engineering. These are some of the best technical writing I've ever read. I don't think you could spend your money on a better SQL Server book. DjF