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mattt
Posting Yak Master
194 Posts |
 Posted - 2007-11-26 : 04:49:08
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| Hi,I've been working as a .NET developer for many years. However, my educational background isn't in IT at all, so I occasionally find that there are big gaps in my knowledge when I'm called on to do certain things.My current role is the first one I've had where the efficiency of my database calls has needed to be top-notch. Most of my previous posts have been in building intranet functionality for medium-sized companies so it's just not been an issue and my fairly basic level of SQL knowledge has been enough to get me by.However, I'm increasingly finding I'm needing to look stuff up, ask for help and so forth and I'm not at all sure that what I'm putting out is up to scratch. I have three main areas of concern:1) The developers here seem to like doing a lot of the "work" of data sorting and manipulation in SQL whereas I'd previously have just grabbed the whole table and done the manipulation in .NET. I'm finding building my complex queries is just doing my head in - I'm just not used to "thinking" in the way that SQL requires which seems very different from procedural programming.2) A lot gets said about properly indexing tables for maximum efficiency. I know what an index is and vaguely what it does, but the means of applying them to ensure the best performance is pretty much beyond me.3) In the same manner I'm now having to worry a lot more about performance issues in my database design. I now the five normal forms and so on, but is there anything else here I need to do to maximise performance?What I'm asking, really, is whether anyone can recommend a good source for SQL knowledge (book, site, whatever) that specifically focuses on my first problem - it'll teach me the proper way to structure my queries and think about them properly so that they don't look so damn impenetrable. It then needs to go on and address my other issues.Any suggestions? |
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harsh_athalye
Master Smack Fu Yak Hacker
5581 Posts |
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khtan
In (Som, Ni, Yak)
17689 Posts |
Posted - 2007-11-26 : 05:03:56
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quote:
Originally posted by harsh_athalye
I know this one link which covers pretty much everything in SQL Server:http://www.sqlteam.com/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=55210Harsh AthalyeIndia."The IMPOSSIBLE is often UNTRIED"
A good one Harsh 
KH[spoiler]Time is always against us[/spoiler] |
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Zoroaster
Aged Yak Warrior
702 Posts |
Posted - 2007-11-26 : 09:58:55
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quote:
Originally posted by mattt
Hi,I've been working as a .NET developer for many years. However, my educational background isn't in IT at all, so I occasionally find that there are big gaps in my knowledge when I'm called on to do certain things.My current role is the first one I've had where the efficiency of my database calls has needed to be top-notch. Most of my previous posts have been in building intranet functionality for medium-sized companies so it's just not been an issue and my fairly basic level of SQL knowledge has been enough to get me by.However, I'm increasingly finding I'm needing to look stuff up, ask for help and so forth and I'm not at all sure that what I'm putting out is up to scratch. I have three main areas of concern:1) The developers here seem to like doing a lot of the "work" of data sorting and manipulation in SQL whereas I'd previously have just grabbed the whole table and done the manipulation in .NET. I'm finding building my complex queries is just doing my head in - I'm just not used to "thinking" in the way that SQL requires which seems very different from procedural programming.2) A lot gets said about properly indexing tables for maximum efficiency. I know what an index is and vaguely what it does, but the means of applying them to ensure the best performance is pretty much beyond me.3) In the same manner I'm now having to worry a lot more about performance issues in my database design. I now the five normal forms and so on, but is there anything else here I need to do to maximise performance?What I'm asking, really, is whether anyone can recommend a good source for SQL knowledge (book, site, whatever) that specifically focuses on my first problem - it'll teach me the proper way to structure my queries and think about them properly so that they don't look so damn impenetrable. It then needs to go on and address my other issues.Any suggestions?
My recommendation is to check out Ken Hendersons Gurus Guide books.
Future guru in the making. |
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jsmith8858
Dr. Cross Join
7423 Posts |
Posted - 2007-11-26 : 10:22:35
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quote:
What I'm asking, really, is whether anyone can recommend a good source for SQL knowledge (book, site, whatever) that specifically focuses on my first problem - it'll teach me the proper way to structure my queries and think about them properly so that they don't look so damn impenetrable. It then needs to go on and address my other issues.
You may find this helpful:http://weblogs.sqlteam.com/jeffs/archive/2007/04/30/60192.aspxI focus most of my blog posts around trying to write clear, clean SQL statements that are logically sound and easy to work with and understand. I also try to discuss different best practices like formatting at the presentation layer, using proper data types, and so on. So, browse around a little and some of the posts there may be helpful to you.(sorry for the shameless plug!)I think you will be very successful, since your approach to learning all of this is perfect, unlike others who refuse to read any books and insist on "trial and error" learning and asking question after question in forums without ever establishing a foundation.- Jeffhttp://weblogs.sqlteam.com/JeffS |
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Good source to improve SQL knowledge