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XML @ Web Programming
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XML Index - XML Book :
The Guru's Guide to SQL Server Stored Procedures, XML, and HTML (With CD-ROM)
by Ken Henderson, Ron Soukup Paperback - 576 pages 1st edition (December 21, 2001) Addison Wesley Professional ISBN: 0201700468 Dimensions (in inches): 1.56 x 9.24 x 7.39 "This is a book that deserves a prominent place by anyone who aspires to be a real professional developer of SQL Server applications." - from the Foreword by Ron SoukupThe message of this book is that building stored procedures in Transact-SQL is very much like building programs in any other language. It requires the same type of skill, planning, attention to detail, and overall grasp of technology that successful development in other languages requires. To master Transact-SQL, one must first master the fundamental concepts of software development, then build on this foundation by embracing and studying Transact-SQL as a programming language in its own right. This book teaches you how to do that and more.More than just a catalog of coding tricks and syntax subtleties, The Guru's Guide to SQL Server(TM) Stored Procedures, XML, and HTML explores the philosophy of Transact-SQL programming. It teaches readers how to apply this philosophy in order to develop their own coding techniques and discover their own solutions to real-world programming problems. A follow-up to the widely acclaimed The Guru's Guide to Transact-SQL, this book teaches that stored procedure development does not occur in a vacuum--it involves a wide variety of skills, subjects, and technologies--and helps the reader become a better software engineer, not just a stored procedure expert. Blending theoretical detail with practical application, this comprehensive reference begins with a foundational overview of SQL Server(TM) stored procedure programming. From there, the focus moves on to best practices and design considerations before progressing to advanced topics and a general philosophy of software craftsmanship. In all, this book provides the most complete coverage of SQL Server stored procedure programming available in one source. Topics such as user-defined functions, views, triggers, extended procedures, error handling, OLE Automation, database design, and XML are covered in detail. The book spotlights undocumented language features and brings the first application of design patterns to the SQL language. The preview of .NET and a groundbreaking approach to adding arrays to Transact-SQL make for the most thorough and engaging read published to date on SQL Server programming. The accompanying CD-ROM contains the book's source code. More than 700 SQL scripts, programming utilities, and extended procedures provide a veritable treasure trove of high-quality example code.Theoretically sound, yet immensely practical, The Guru's Guide to SQL Server(TM) Stored Procedures, XML, and HTML provides developers with the tools they need to become expert stored procedure programmers and better software engineers. About the Author: Ken Henderson, a nationally recognized consultant and leading DBMS practitioner, consults on high-end client/server projects for such customers as the U.S. Air Force, the U.S. Navy, H&R Block, Travelers Insurance, J.P. Morgan, the CIA, Owens-Corning, and CNA Insurance. He is the author of five previous books on client/server and DBMS development, a frequent magazine contributor to such publications as Software Development Magazine and DBMS Magazine, and a speaker at technical conferences.... Customer Review Reviewer: Donald Farris from Jersey City, NJ USA 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. Reviewer: John Lennox from Hampton Falls, NH USA 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. Reviewer: A reader from Baltimore, MD I own both books by Ken Henderson. Simply put, he's the best. I'd buy any book he writes. Reviewer: A reader from Sammamish, WA USA 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 that: advanced. Want to learn about how SQL Server interfaces with COM? Look no further -- the chapter even includes a nice, concise introduction to COM itself for those new to it. Want to learn to build extended procs? Look no further. This chapter alone is worth the whole cost of the book. I guess I shouldn't be surprised by now, but it's as in-depth as they come. I'm not even a C++ coder, but I worked through the examples and successfully built my first extended proc. And I have to commend Henderson on the performance chapter. It's the best I've seen on the subject. It's far clearer and in-depth than what you find in Inside SQL Server 2000, for example. The arrays chapter is the third crown jewel of the book. The technique of using extended procs and UDFs to add array support to the T-SQL language is ingenius. I'll bet Henderson could sell this code commercially if he wanted. And the final crown jewel is the set of essays at the end of the book. What clear, lucid, lively, enjoyable prose. Henderson is one of the great technical writers of our generation. He spreads his wings a bit in these chapters and shows just what a great wordsmith he really is. Regardless of whether you're talking technical or nontechnical books, fiction or nonfiction, you will not find better writing than this. I think he should consider branching out into other kinds of writing because he obviously has the ability. In sum: this book elevates Transact-SQL to the plateau of "real" languages such as Java, Pascal, and C++. It is the first "thinker's" coding book I've seen for Transact-SQL stored procedure development and among the best programming books I've ever read. It is a worthy successor to "The Guru's Guide to Transact-SQL." |
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