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December 2005 - Posts

Dave Sussman - Database Geek of the Week!

Dave Sussman is an author, trainer, and ASP Insider.  He has most recently worked on a book covering ADO.NET and Sustem.Xml in .NET 2.0.  From the interview:

Doug: What do you think about using VB.NET or C# for stored procedures in SQL Server 2005?

Dave: I think it’s an exciting aspect of SQL Server 2005, but it comes with a warning. I’ve done talks on the SQL CLR, and I always say, “Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.”

There has not been enough guidance on when it’s appropriate to use managed code for stored procedures. For example, T-SQL is designed for set-based work, so if you are doing simple set work, such as returning a rowset, T-SQL will be faster than managed code. If you have a stored procedure with SQL cursors, however, it’s a good candidate for managed code. The same goes if you have a stored procedure with complex business rules. I think where managed code will have more use is in functions and aggregates, which was always limited to the supplied ones.

Read the entire interview here. 

Peter DeBetta - Database Geek of the Week

Peter DeBetta as an author, consultant and trainer.  He knows SQL Server, and he talks about it in my recent interview:

Doug: How did you get involved with writing books?

Peter: I was teaching a SQL Server 6.5 programming class and someone asked if SQL Server had crosstab abilities. I told the student no, but then thought about it and decided to write a stored procedure to return crosstab, or pivoted, data.

When I completed the monstrous procedure, I realized I knew the product pretty well, so I got up my nerve and wrote to a publisher. Within a few weeks, I had a contract for a SQL Server programming book that, after about two months, was canned due to a perceived lack of interest.

I almost gave up on the idea of writing a book. But I woke up one day about a month later and decided to try again. I got a contract with Sams Publishing to write an Unleashed-series book, which went to press and started my writing career.

Read the entire inteview here.

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