Transact-SQL was first introduced by Sybase and Microsoft in 1980s to be a procedural language for their databases server products. Many DB admins have regretted the existence such a vendor-flavored query engine.
T-SQL uses more complex syntax than the simple declarative SQL found in MySQL and Postgres. Oracle administrators are now aware that Microsoft is not the only database maker guilty.
There are many reasons to learn SQL. It might not be obvious at first glance the benefits of a more complicated procedural database language over a plain vanilla SQL implementation.
Modularity: TQL procedures can be used to help a software project follow modular programming principles. This allows for a faster development environment and reduces the frequency of software updates.
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Efficiency: Data processing workloads can easily be executed with minimal overhead by being transferred from the front-end directly to the DB server.
Transact compatible servers can offer additional functionality that can be used for specific applications. T-SQL on SQL Server or a Sybase/SAP version can be a cost-effective option if you have a requirement for a vendor-supported server.
T-SQL should therefore be of primary importance for a subset of IT professionals:
Database administrators in a Microsoft, Sybase or SAP Environment
This niche is probably the most important in T-SQL.
If your company is already well-integrated in the Microsoft ecosystem, it’s worth exploring the additional functionality offered by T-SQL as a complement to the basic data manipulation functions available in all SQL variants.
Many organizations also use the legacy Sybase DB Server, as well its current progenitor, SAP Adaptive Server Enterprise. Transact-SQL offers additional data processing capabilities to all of these database engines.
IT professionals in the finance industry
T-SQL is a great tool for protecting complex transactions where security is important. It is possible to reduce their potential exposure by storing the transactions in stored procedures on the DB server. This will also add an additional layer of protection against hackers.
T-SQL can also help to reduce network traffic. Large amounts of sensitive customer data being passed between client and DB server could lead to a breach of security best-practices and possible liability. T-SQL allows more sensitive processing to remain behind the scenes.
T-SQL, from a developer perspective, can help maintain permissions by executing queries without granting client-side developers permissive DB credentials. This helps to protect the database and reduce the possibility of data theft or sabotage by contractors or employees.
Admins for large e-commerce site
T-SQL can be a great tool for e-commerce sites that have high volumes. T-SQL can optimize stored procedures and user-defined functions to provide the most efficient queries. This creates a realistic load for front-end web server, which can be quickly overwhelmed by complex data processing algorithms within ASP.net or ColdFusion.
Webmasters for non profit organizations and low-budget businesses
Transact-SQL allows you to store, compile, optimize, and then call upon any procedure whenever needed. This is much more efficient than running SQL directly from web code. Each statement would have to be compiled.
