O’Reilly news

Extend SQL on Microsoft and Sybase SQL Servers with Transact-SQL Programming

April 14, 1999

SEBASTOPOL, CA-Some of the most exciting and innovative information systems in development or production today employ the Transact-SQL programming language. Transact-SQL, the powerful language used by developers and database administrators to extend the power of SQL relational database language on Microsoft and Sybase servers, is experiencing dramatic growth, and O'Reilly's latest release, Transact-SQL Programming was designed to meet the needs of administrators and developers who want to tap the enormous potential of Transact-SQL.

Dramatic Growth of Transact-SQL

"Unit sales of Microsoft SQL Server have been increasing by 80 to 100% a year. The installed base of Microsoft SQL Server now exceeds three million, and Microsoft expects the number of licenses to double over the next year," explains Kevin Kline, co-author of the just released book, Transact-SQL Programming. Charles Stevens, vice president of the application developers customer unit at Microsoft agrees: "The number of SQL Server-based applications has quadrupled in 18 months, and we expect even more dramatic growth with the breakthrough product that we have in SQL Server 7.0."

"Toss in the considerable market presence and growth of Sybase products from the Unix and Windows NT arena to Windows 95 and Windows 98," says Kline "and you will discover another group of products where the Transact-SQL language is growing rapidly. Sybase's widely acclaimed Adaptive Server Enterprise on the high end, and SQL Anywhere Studio on the desktop, push the Transact-SQL language to even more users. Sybase has gone from a 1985 startup co-founded by Mark Hoffman and Bob Epstein in Bob's home to one of the top ten independent software houses of 1998. Sybase products are firmly entrenched in much of the Fortune 500."

Transact-SQL Programming "highly recommended"

Transact-SQL Programming is the bible for Microsoft and Sybase database developers. It contains everything you need to know to take best advantage of Transact-SQL's Capabilities-language syntax, best practices for programming, and a wide variety of real-world examples you can put to use in your own applications. In addition, Transact-SQL Programming carefully explains the differences between the Microsoft and Sybase versions of the language.

"In writing this book, our intention has been to provide you with a comprehensive resource for Transact-SQL programming. Too many people have to learn programming languages through trial and error. We'll try to spare you. This book will show you the basic building blocks of Transact-SQL, coupled with useful and complete examples. As with many programming languages, Transact-SQL offers you many different ways to meet a set of programming requirements." says Kline.

Transact-SQL Programming comes with a CD-ROM containing an extensive set of examples from the book, along with evaluation editions of Microsoft SQL Server 7.0, SQL-Programmer (by Sylvain Faust), and Rapid SQL (by Embarcadero Technologies).

What the Critics Say about Transact-SQL Programming

"I was part of the original team that designed the Transact-SQL language in 1985-and I still learned a few things from this book. Transact-SQL Programming gives developers the detailed information they need to get the best value out of the language, as well as the specific differences between the Microsoft and Sybase implementations." -- Bob Epstein, Executive Vice-President, Sybase, Inc.

"Transact SQL Programming by Kevin Kline, Lee Gould and Andrew Zanevsky is the most thorough and usable book I have found. I rely on it as my primary reference when I am faced with any Transact-SQL operation that is unfamiliar. This book has improved my SQL programming by leaps and bounds. I highly recommend it to anyone who needs to either improve their current SQL programming skill set or learn Transact-SQL. This book is my 'right arm'-almost as good as having a full-time personal SQL consultant at my side." -- Lynda Davis, Systems Analyst/SQL DBA, Allied Riser Communications, Inc.

For more information, including Table of Contents and index, see: http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/wintrnssql/

*Although Microsoft currently has only 15% of the overall database market (in comparison, Oracle has about 30% of that market) it has about 40% of the Windows NT market, and NT sales doubled last year (statistics from International Data Corporation, Dataquest, and VARBusiness Magazine).

Transact-SQL Programming
Covers Microsoft SQL Server 7.0 and Sybase Adaptive Server 11.5
By Kevin Kline, Lee Gould & Andrew Zanevsky
Foreword by Bob Epstein
1st Edition March 1999 (US)
1-56592-401-0, 836 pages, $44.95 (US$) Includes CD-ROM

About O’Reilly

O’Reilly Media spreads the knowledge of innovators through its books, online services, magazines, and conferences. Since 1978, O’Reilly Media has been a chronicler and catalyst of cutting-edge development, homing in on the technology trends that really matter and spurring their adoption by amplifying “faint signals” from the alpha geeks who are creating the future. An active participant in the technology community, the company has a long history of advocacy, meme-making, and evangelism.

Email a link to this press release