Is T-SQL enough to be a valuable Yukon DBA?

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Is T-SQL enough to be a valuable Yukon DBA?

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SueStill SSC Eights! Points: 946 More actions · Answer 1

It isn't as easy as learning VB or C either. As a DBA, you should be more concerned with the objects available for data manipulation. Example - My area supports ADO, RDO, ODBC, DAO, OLEDB and many combinations of those controls. Perhaps a study in MDAC would be a good start. VB is definitely easiest to use. It's drag and drop nature and the fact that the code writes itself (you're given choices at each juncture of your statement and can scroll to the one you want and hit tab to add it to the statment). The meat and potatoes you're looking for will be around ADO, which, for now, is the best option. I would love it if my DBA's understood ADO. As of now, they don't allow us to use connection pooling with ADO because it can result in a maximum of 2 connections per user and they want to keep it at one. The downside of that is inefficient processing by both the app and the server (when executing sp's, it has to do them one at a time rather than doing multiple via 2 connections and being done quicker). My kudos to you for trying to stay abrest, but I can promise you that my team will need good SQL DBA's for some time to come...

swjohnson Hall of Fame Points: 3254 More actions · Answer 2

Interesting topic. Here's my two cents worth. I have been programming in VB.Net for a few months now and have started to play with C# (and I like it). As well, I am the DBA for our ten SQL 2K servers.

I feel that you will always need to know T-SQL, it is here to stay and will be around for many versions as it is the foundation of set based mathematics and RDBMS's. Stored Procedures will also still be the fastest method of database access for at least another version. However, I also like the fact that MS is adding in the .Net capabilities. It will open up SQL Server and make it more than a database.

Do I think I/you need to learn all the .Net languages? Nope! You will need to set standards at your company and enforce them. Then you will be able to learn a bit about that specific language. And then work with your developers to create efficient code and procedures.

In addition, the CLR is a pseudo, almost assembly type of a language. In my coding experiments, I have written a funciton in VB and then the same one in C# and compared the two at the CLR level. The CLR pseudo code is exactly the same. So, my thought is the learn to read the CLR code and you won't have to worry about what language your developers use.

Finally, the addition of .Net will allow us DBAs some added logic and capabilities for the administration of our servers. I have never like the Alert and email notification capabilities of SQL Server (pretty weak functionality) and am starting to like the new .Net Notification Service.

Shawn Johnson

Sr. Database Developer

Kenexa

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Klaas-Jan SSCrazy Points: 2297 More actions · Answer 3

I have experimented with c# and the concepts are the same as in java. So if you learn c# you could also learn java (or if you know java it is asmal step to c#). In c# in combination with ado.net you can create with wizzards datasets. A dataset is a disconnected recordset based on a stored procedure. You only have to create a query and the wizzard makes insert/update/delete/select stored procedures. So the use of stored procedures will be increased. I think that inside sql server still a lot of sql will be used. I think that for a dba it is more important to know how the language interact with the database then the precise language. So knowing tsql and the concepts of data retrieval ( ado / ado.det /xml) should be enough to be good dba. This off cource is also dependent on the role you are in. I am a developer and a dba.

Klaas-Jan Ruyter

Rogman Ten Centuries Points: 1332 More actions · Answer 4

Although it's probably a good idea, to learn a specific language (VB, C#, etc.), it's maybe even more important to learn the framework first. If you know procedural programming, applying a language is really nothing more than learning the specific syntax of the language. However, learning the framework (namespaces, IDE, CLR, etc.) IMHO is the most important part. The langauge you use after that isn't really that important.