Inside Microsoft SQL Server 2008 T-SQL Querying

Tackle the toughest set-based querying and query tuning problems—guided by an author team with in-depth, inside knowledge of T-SQL. Deepen your understanding of architecture and internals—and gain practical approaches and advanced techniques to optimize your code’s performance.

Discover how to:

• Move from procedural programming to the language of sets and logic
• Optimize query tuning with a top-down methodology
• Assess algorithmic complexity to predict performance
• Compare data-aggregation techniques, including new grouping sets
• Manage data modification—insert, delete, update, merge—for performance
• Write more efficient queries against partitioned tables
• Work with graphs, trees, hierarchies, and recursive queries
• Plus—Use pure-logic puzzles to sharpen your problem-solving skills

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Logical Query Processing
Chapter 2: Set Theory and Predicate Logic
Chapter 3: The Relational Model
Chapter 4: Query Tuning
Chapter 5: Algorithms and Complexity
Chapter 6: Subqueries, Table Expressions, and Ranking Functions
Chapter 7: Joins and Set Operations
Chapter 8: Aggregating and Pivoting Data
Chapter 9: TOP and APPLY
Chapter 10: Data Modification
Chapter 11: Querying Partitioned Tables
Chapter 12: Graphs, Trees, Hierarchies, and Recursive Queries
Appendix A: Logic Puzzles