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Advance SQL Learning?

  • December 31, 2011 at 11:21 am

    #265707

    Hi,

    I have been a SQL developer for about 4 1/2 years now. For the past couple of months, I haven't really improve my SQL skills. I have been trying to find more advance books or articles to read but it seems a lot of the books are just repeats of what I have already read.

    Some articles introduction of advance sql is using joins and subqueries.. Is this really it?

    What I am really interested in learning is how to write better SQL coding and ensuring the queries I write is correct. Does anyone know any SQL books that teaches better coding and ways to QA your code?

    Thanks for the help.

  • December 31, 2011 at 1:29 pm

    #1427249

    You could look for books by Itzik Ben-Gan, or look for his advanced courses.


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  • January 1, 2012 at 9:35 am

    #1427276

    If you feel that you are a mid-level developer, then I think one of the best ways to improve your skills is to dive into database design and architecture. You not only learn what works, but why it works that way.

    I personally recommend any of Louis Davidson's books on SQL Server Database Design. He takes a case study and walks you through the design process, explaining the database design concepts and illustrating with lots of code samples as he goes along.

    I have found his books to be excellent, because he explains "mid-level" concepts in a way that anyone can understand. Thus he avoids two problems that a lot of technical books have: either they are too complex and dense or they are so basic that they don't explain anything useful.

    Also, as a DBA who has to wade through a lot of crap code at work, I really bemoan the fact that most SQL developers don't learn much about database design. Thus they end up writing a lot of queries that "work" when the data sets are small, but that I then have to fix when the data sets get large.

    I actually started with one of Louis Davidson's books, and I feel that it helped me tremendously to have a clear understanding of the fundamental design principles as I learned the various T-SQL techniques. It is like having a good framework to help you organize everything else that you know about SQL.

    Just my two cents. Good luck to you!

  • January 2, 2012 at 6:00 am

    #1427409

    I find myself in the same situation as the OP, Im going to find those books. Thank you.

  • January 2, 2012 at 9:27 am

    #1427446

    ychen1214 (12/31/2011)

    I have been a SQL developer for about 4 1/2 years now. For the past couple of months, I haven't really improve my SQL skills. I have been trying to find more advance books or articles to read but it seems a lot of the books are just repeats of what I have already read.

    How are your performance tuning skills?

    Can you trace a query and tell where is time spent and do you understand why is that happening?

    Once you can answer yes/yes then you will be on track to make those queries better performing therefore improve your SQL skills.

    _____________________________________
    Pablo (Paul) Berzukov

    Author of Understanding Database Administration available at Amazon and other bookstores.

    Disclaimer: Advice is provided to the best of my knowledge but no implicit or explicit warranties are provided. Since the advisor explicitly encourages testing any and all suggestions on a test non-production environment advisor should not held liable or responsible for any actions taken based on the given advice.

  • January 2, 2012 at 4:30 pm

    #1427511

    I agree, the books from Itzik are the best ever

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