SQL Tuning  (English, Paperback, Tow Dan)

SQL Tuning is a resource guide for database administrators and SQL developers, who want to maximize the efficiency of their database applications and expand their SQL expertise.

Summary Of The Book

Structured Query Language (SQL) is a special programming language used to manage data that is saved in an RDBMS (relational database management system). It was originally designed at IBM to retrieve and manipulate stored data.

SQL Tuning will provide readers with an innovative method of fine tuning SQL queries in order to gain optimal performance. The book focuses on three outcomes of an SQL statement, finding and interpreting the output plan, how SQL can be changed such that an alternate plan can be executed, and how to find the best execution plan. According to Tow, these three outcomes are essential to improve the performance of a database application. Not only does it reduce cost and time, but it also impacts other applications that are operating on the computer or network.
In SQL Tuning, Tow has outlined a timesaving technique to find an optimum plan of execution. Readers will learn how to control and understand SQL plans and also how to draw diagrams for SQL queries, which will produce an execution plan. The text concludes with solutions to difficult problems and by also addressing concerns.

The text is organized into 10 chapters and two appendices. The topics covered by the chapters and following the introduction are Data-access Basics, Viewing and Interpreting Execution Plans, Controlling Execution Plans, Diagramming Simple SQL Queries, Deducing the Best Execution Plan, Tuning and Diagramming Complex SQL Servers, Why does the Diagramming Method Work, Special Cases, and Solutions to Unsolvable Problems. The two Appendices cover Exercise Solutions and the Entire Process, respectively.

SQL Tuning was published in 2003.

About Dan Tow

Dan Tow is an author, independent consultant, and businessman.

Tow obtained his PhD from the University of Wisconsin in Chemical Engineering. He began his professional career in 1989, when he joined the Oracle Corporation. Here, Tow focused on Oracle Applications’ performance and tested his SQL tuning method. After leaving Oracle in 1998, Tow joined TenFold Corporation. In 2002, Tow created SingingSQL, a database related tuning service. Tow also gives lectures and in-depth courses on SQL, using his textbook as a resource. Dan Tow currently resides in Palo Alto, California.