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This book gives students a detailed look at the internal architecture of T-SQL and a comprehensive programming reference. Readers will tackle the toughest set-based querying and query tuning problems - guided by an author team with in-depth, inside knowledge of T-SQL. This book deepens student understanding of architecture and internals - and gives practical approaches and advanced techniques to optimize code performance. The book covers many unique techniques that provide highly efficient solutions for common challenges.

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Dejan Sarka is a mentor with SolidQ and focuses on development of database and business intelligence applications. He is a frequent speaker at international conferences such as TechEd, SqlDevCon, and PASS. He is the founder of the Slovenian SQL Server and .NET Users Group. As main author or coauthor, Dejan has written nine books about SQL Server. He has also developed three courses for SolidQ: Data Modeling Essentials, Data Quality and Master Data Management, and Data Mining.Grega Jerkic is an independent consultant and trainer for SolidQ. For the last 12 years, he has been developing, architecting, and managing projects focusing on data warehousing, MDM, data integration, analytical/planning solutions and predictive analytics--primarily using Microsoft technology. He invented and was lead architect for a predefined business intelligence solution on top of ERP Microsoft Dynamics NAV BI4Dynamics, which is now used worldwide by more than 150 clients and has earned two Microsoft awards for best business intelligence solution for the CEE region. Grega currently provides training and mentoring for the Microsoft BI platform around the world (Microsoft FastTrack DW workshops, Enterprise ETL with SQL 2005/2008, MDX, Advanced PowerPivot, Microsoft SQL 2008 R2 technical workshops, etc).

Itzik Ben-Gan is a principal mentor and a founder of SolidQ. A Microsoft MVP for SQL Server since 1999, Itzik teaches and consults internationally on T-SQL querying, programming, and query tuning. He has written numerous articles for SQL Server Magazine and MSDN, and speaks at industry events such as Microsoft TechEd, DevWeek, PASS, and SQL Server Connections.

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