This three-day course is a journey through the more advanced side of T-SQL, designed to help you create queries that are simply more effective. SQL Server MVP, author, and LobsterPot Solutions owner Rob Farley, visiting Chicago from Australia for a limited time, takes his students on a road trip of unlearning bad habits of querying and reporting, and into a deeper understanding of what makes a query effective. Common student feedback for this course includes "You've made me want to go back and rework every query I've ever written" and "I didn't realize how much I didn't understand about even the fundamental parts of T-SQL."

Now it's your turn to find out what your T-SQL has been missing. Come away with the knowledge necessary for writing queries that get the work done, and fast, and for more powerful reporting. Register now to switch from doing what you know to knowing what you do.

(The T-SQL taught will be primarily for SQL Server 2012, but most of the principles taught will also apply equally to SQL Server 2005 and SQL Server 2008.)

Module 1: Query Execution

• SELECT statement components
• Execution plans
• Simplification of views and sub-queries
• Indexes
• SARGability and residuals
• Data modification

Module 2: Advanced T-SQL Features

• Distinct vs. GROUP BY
• Combining sets
• JOIN methods - logical and physical
• APPLY
• CTEs
• PIVOT and UNPIVOT
• OVER clause
• Ranking functions
• LAG/LEAD
• Analytic Functions
• OUTPUT clause
• Paging techniques

Module 3: Performance Considerations

• Indexes 2
• Hints
• Data types
• Full-text
• Cursors
• TVPs
• UDFs
• Client-based solutions
• Locking
• TempDB
• Memory management
• Dynamic SQL