Database developers and administrators will find best practices and code samples for mastering advanced T-SQL programming techniques with this programming reference focused on set-based querying and query tuning. The first five chapters lay the foundation of logical and physical query processing required to understand the rest of the book. The chapters that follow delve into advanced querying and tuning, addressing both logical and physical aspects of code, and covering such topics as subqueries, pivoting data, TOP and APPLY, and recursive queries. Concepts are explained in the context of real problem solving and common patterns readers are likely to find when writing applications. An appendix offers logic puzzles to build readers' query problem-solving abilities, compiled from Ben-Gan's column in SQL Server Magazine. Ben-Gan is a mentor and trainer. Itzik teaches and consults internationally on T-SQL querying, programming, and query tuning. Annotation ©2009 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com) Read Less