With SQL Server 2000's hitting its end of life date next April, many shops that have been delaying the upgrade to SQL Server 2005 need to start looking at it seriously. This is why we have chosen to review the seventh edition of William Vaughn's Hitchhiker's Guide to Visual Studio and SQL Server.
In "Slow in the Application, Fast in SSMS?", SQL Server MVP, Erland Sommarskog, explores the various things that affect Query Plan, compilation of Dynamic SQL and other things that ultimately affect your SQL Server Database Performance. He covers various concepts and scenarios like parameter sniffing, query plan caching, Blocking, saved settings, issues with linked servers and more.
Gojko Adzic has recently announced the version 1.0 release of DbFit, his popular FIT/FitNesse extension used for practicing TDD on database code.
PHP is a cornerstone of LAMP development. In an attempt to lure PHP developers off Linux and MySQL, Microsoft is beginning to offer deep support for PHP in IIS 7 and SQL Server.
A CTP of the SQL Server 2005 Best Practices Analyzer is now available. This tool can be thought of as FXCop for SQL Server.
Microsoft has developed what they call "tools for building SQL databases in a managed project environment with support for versioning, deployment, unit testing, refactoring, and off-line SQL development." These tools, released under the name Visual Studio for Database Professionals, claim to offer a way to develop databases in the same off-line fashion as traditional applications.
Microsoft has released the first CTP of its SQL Server Hosting Toolkit. This toolkit is designed to provide support for companies using a hosted SQL Server.
SQL Server 2000 had a useful, though undocumented, function called xp_execresultset. Unfortunately for those currently using it, SQL Server 2005 has dropped this feature.
English Query, a tool that translated queries written in English into SQL queries, has been discontinued.
