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

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 of them in exceptional detail. The book includes especially thorough coverage of Transact-SQL stored procedure programming, including features such as extended procedures, database design, and XML that are often disregarded in competitive books. Henderson introduces a method he has developed to add arrays to T-SQL, something previously thought impossible. He offers an ideal balance of theory and code, gradually building on basic techniques to create increasingly sophisticated solutions, and teaching the philosophy of Transact-SQL programming alongside syntax and technique. An accompanying CD-ROM includes extensive source code, including valuable proprietary code that makes T-SQL queries run faster. For every SQL Server developer.

Customer Reviews:

Henderson takes it to a new level

By Donald Farris - January 11, 2002

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... read more

Another great Ken Henderson SQL book

By John Lennox - March 7, 2002

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... read more

For professional developers

By A Customer - May 28, 2004

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... read more