Typically I have come to expect that technical books for Microsoft topics will inevitably revert to at least partial regurgitations of the material already available on Books Online. This book, however, bucks the trend. I found the chapters "Errors & Exceptions" and "Dynamic T-SQL" quite useful, but also was intrigued by "Working with Spatial Data" as I have not seen the material addressed quite like Mr. Machanic has here. There would seem to be something in this book to pique any developer's interest.

This is not a comprehensive book on T-SQL development. Rather it provides some high level golden nuggets of T-SQL information that even many experienced T-SQL developers do not have a full mastery.

Here are the main topics the book covers:

1)Errors and Exceptions: open transactions and how it can be resolved using XACT_ABORT and error handling. How to use Try/Catch.

2)Encryption: Symmetric and asymmetric encryption and good explanation of which one to use in which circumstances.

3)SQLCLR: How to use .NET with within SQL instance. This feature, as the author correctly states, is rarely used and has been overhyped by Microsoft.

3)Dynamic SQL and SQL injection: how to and why use SP_ExecuteSQL instead of "exec" when using dynamic SQL.


I highly recommend this book to SQL developers and Database Architects. It is not as helpful to the DBAs since it covers areas not typically handled by the DBAs. But this book nonetheless helps everyone to better understand the intricacies of T-SQL.

The author imparts a wealth of knowledge on the reader in a mere 445 pages. His style is direct, clear and doesn't waste any pages on trying to get you up to speed. He gives you just what you need and nothing else. I wish they were all like this.

By providing actual performance testing Adam Machanic doesn't just make expert claims for his methods. In fact, my favorite quote from the book: "The hallmark of a truly great developer, and what allows these qualities to shine through, is a thorough understanding of the importance of testing."

Having never worked with spatial data before, I found the coverage of the topic fascinating. Also, entire books have been written on tree's, hierarchies and graphs. Adam provides enough information in a single chapter for the developer to choose a strategy that works.

5 stars - easy

I have read (well, ok, read through or I would post more reviews) quite a few technical books about SQL Server. Where many books follow a very rigid path through a subject, quite often in a very feature driven manner (Here is this command, and you can do this. Next, this command) or process driven manner (First we do this, then we do this...).

This book is very different from that. The title includes the word "Expert" for good reason. This is a book that doesn't assume you know nothing and start from scratch, nor does it try to teach you every knob and switch on all of the SQL commands. It it more about going to the next level and becoming the expert at programming with SQL Server by covering several deep dive subjects that every person needs to make the transition from "Pro" to "Expert".

It has eleven chapters, each of them about a distinct facet of programming SQL Server, from the common stuff you need to do or use right (testing, errors, privilege, CLR, encryption, dynamic SQL and concurrency) to three chapters on really deep applied stuff (spatial data, temporal data, and graphs/trees). Each chapter has some very deep information, and a lot of code that could make you dizzy if you try to ingest it too fast. It is all explained nicely though, and if you take the time to understand the code you will be far better off for it.

I would not suggest this as a book for the casual "I would like to know a bit more about SQL" reader. It is more for the reader who is already good and wants to become a solid professional/expert SQL programmer who know the right way to do things. For that reader it should be on your required reading list.

This is really a great book. It covers specific topics really extensively and it is very easy to read. I was impressed because I was able to find great information about topics such as Encryption or Hierarchies that cannot be found very easily in other books. The examples are very descriptive but the most important thing is that the author will show you all possible solutions and will prove why the one he selected is the best. It is not a beginner's book but it is a fantastic book for advanced DBAs/Developers.