A guide to SQL covers such topics as retrieving records, metadata queries, working with strings, data arithmetic, date manipulation, reporting and warehousing, and hierarchical queries.

This unique cookbook contains a wealth of solutions to problems that SQL programmers face all the time. The recipes inside range from how to perform simple tasks, like importing external data, to ways of handling issues that are more complicated, like set algebra. Authors Ales Spetic and Jonathan Gennick, two authorities with extensive database and SQL programming experience, include a discussion with each recipe to explain the logic and concepts underlying the solution.SQL (Structured Query Language) is the closest thing to a standard query language that currently exists, and Transact-SQL -- a full-featured programming language that dramatically extends the power of SQL -- is the procedural language of choice for both Microsoft SQL Server and Sybase SQL Server systems. The Transact-SQL Cookbook is designed so you can use the recipes directly, as a source of ideas, or as a way to learn a little more about SQL and what you can do with it. Topics covered include: Audit logging. In addition to recipes for implementing an audit log, this chapter also includes recipes for: improving performance where large log tables are involved; supporting multiple-languages; and simulating server push. Hierarchies. Recipes show you how to manipulate hierarchical data using Transact-SQL. Importing data. This chapter introduces concepts like normalization and recipes useful for working with imported data tables. Sets. Recipes demonstrate different operations, such as how to find common elements, summarize the data in a set, and find the element in a set that represents an extreme. Statistics. This chapter?s recipes show you how to effectively use SQL for common statistical operations from means and standard deviations to weighted moving averages. Temporal data. Recipes demonstrate how to construct queries against time-based data. Data Structures. This chapter shows how to manipulate data structures like stacks, queues, matrices, and arrays. With an abundance of recipes to help you get your job done more efficiently, the Transact-SQL Cookbook is sure to become an essential part of your library.

Provides detailed information about Transact-SQL programming and shows specific differences between the Microsoft and Sybase versions of the language.

Prepare for Microsoft Exam 70-761–and help demonstrate your real-world mastery of SQL Server 2016 Transact-SQL data management, queries, and database programming. Designed for experienced IT professionals ready to advance their status, Exam Ref focuses on the critical-thinking and decision-making acumen needed for success at the MCSA level. Focus on the expertise measured by these objectives: • Filter, sort, join, aggregate, and modify data • Use subqueries, table expressions, grouping sets, and pivoting • Query temporal and non-relational data, and output XML or JSON • Create views, user-defined functions, and stored procedures • Implement error handling, transactions, data types, and nulls This Microsoft Exam Ref: • Organizes its coverage by exam objectives • Features strategic, what-if scenarios to challenge you • Assumes you have experience working with SQL Server as a database administrator, system engineer, or developer • Includes downloadable sample database and code for SQL Server 2016 SP1 (or later) and Azure SQL Database Querying Data with Transact-SQL About the Exam Exam 70-761 focuses on the skills and knowledge necessary to manage and query data and to program databases with Transact-SQL in SQL Server 2016. About Microsoft Certification Passing this exam earns you credit toward a Microsoft Certified Solutions Associate (MCSA) certification that demonstrates your mastery of essential skills for building and implementing on-premises and cloud-based databases across organizations. Exam 70-762 (Developing SQL Databases) is also required for MCSA: SQL 2016 Database Development certification. See full details at: microsoft.com/learning

T-SQL insiders help you tackle your toughest queries and query-tuning problems Squeeze maximum performance and efficiency from every T-SQL query you write or tune. Four leading experts take an in-depth look at T-SQL’s internal architecture and offer advanced practical techniques for optimizing response time and resource usage. Emphasizing a correct understanding of the language and its foundations, the authors present unique solutions they have spent years developing and refining. All code and techniques are fully updated to reflect new T-SQL enhancements in Microsoft SQL Server 2014 and SQL Server 2012. Write faster, more efficient T-SQL code: Move from procedural programming to the language of sets and logic Master an efficient top-down tuning methodology Assess algorithmic complexity to predict performance Compare data aggregation techniques, including new grouping sets Efficiently perform data-analysis calculations Make the most of T-SQL’s optimized bulk import tools Avoid date/time pitfalls that lead to buggy, poorly performing code Create optimized BI statistical queries without additional software Use programmable objects to accelerate queries Unlock major performance improvements with In-Memory OLTP Master useful and elegant approaches to manipulating graphs About This Book For experienced T-SQL practitioners Includes coverage updated from Inside Microsoft SQL Server 2008 T-SQL Querying and Inside Microsoft SQL Server 2008 T-SQL Programming Valuable to developers, DBAs, BI professionals, and data scientists Covers many MCSE 70-464 and MCSA/MCSE 70-461 exam topics

Beginning T-SQL is a performance-oriented introduction to the T-SQL language underlying the Microsoft SQL Server database engine. T-SQL is essential in writing SQL statements to get data into and out of a database. T-SQL is the foundation for business logic embedded in the database in the form of stored procedures and functions. Beginning T-SQL starts you on the path to mastering T-SQL, with an emphasis on best-practices and sound coding techniques leading to excellent performance. This new edition is updated to cover the essential features of T-SQL found in SQL Server 2014, 2012, and 2008. Beginning T-SQL begins with an introduction to databases, normalization, and to SQL Server Management Studio. Attention is given to Azure SQL Database and how to connect to remote databases in the cloud. Each subsequent chapter teaches an aspect of T-SQL, building on the skills learned in previous chapters. Exercises in most chapters provide an opportunity for the hands-on practice that leads to true learning and distinguishes the competent professional. Important techniques such as windowing functions are covered to help write fast executing queries that solve real business problems. A stand-out feature in this book is that most chapters end with a "Thinking About Performance" section. These sections cover aspects of query performance relative to the content just presented. They'll help you avoid beginner mistakes by knowing about and thinking about performance from Day 1. Imparts best practices for writing T-SQL Helps you avoid common errors Shows how to write scalable code for good performance

SQL Server T-SQL Recipes is an example-based guide to the Transact-SQL language that is at the core of SQL Server. This edition has been lightly updated for SQL Server 2014 and provides ready-to-implement solutions to common programming and database administration tasks. Learn to create databases, create in-memory tables and stored procedures, insert and update data, generate reports, secure your data, and more. Tasks and their solutions are broken down into a problem/solution format that is quick and easy to read so that you can get the job done fast when the pressure is on. Solutions in this book are divided into chapters by problem domain. Each chapter is a collection of solutions around a single facet of the language such as writing queries, managing indexes, error handling, and query performance. Each solution is presented code-first, giving you a working code example to copy from and implement immediately in your own environment. Following each example is an in-depth description of how and why the given solution works. Tradeoffs and alternative approaches are also discussed. Focused on solutions: Look up what you need to do. Learn how to do it. Do it. Current: Lightly updated for SQL Server 2014 Comprehensive: Covers all common T-SQL problem domains

Encoded characteristic functions (ECF) is a new, innovative SQL programming methodology which allows programmers to encode conditional logic as scalar expressions within certain clauses. These extremely powerful techniques are presented by the authors of ECF in "Optimizing Transact-SQL".

The Transact-SQL Cookbook contains a wealth of solutions to problems that SQL programmers face all the time. The recipes in the book range from how to perform simple tasks, such as importing external data, to how to handle more complicated issues, such as set algebra. Each recipe is followed by a discussion explaining the logic and concepts underlying the solution.

Gain a solid understanding of T-SQL—and write better queries Master the fundamentals of Transact-SQL—and develop your own code for querying and modifying data in Microsoft SQL Server 2012. Led by a SQL Server expert, you’ll learn the concepts behind T-SQL querying and programming, and then apply your knowledge with exercises in each chapter. Once you understand the logic behind T-SQL, you’ll quickly learn how to write effective code—whether you’re a programmer or database administrator. Discover how to: Work with programming practices unique to T-SQL Create database tables and define data integrity Query multiple tables using joins and subqueries Simplify code and improve maintainability with table expressions Implement insert, update, delete, and merge data modification strategies Tackle advanced techniques such as window functions, pivoting and grouping sets Control data consistency using isolation levels, and mitigate deadlocks and blocking Take T-SQL to the next level with programmable objects