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A Sneak Preview Inside Yukon
Why database administrators & developers are excited about the next version of SQL Server.
by Keyur Shah

Posted May 11, 2004

Yukon is the code name for the next version of SQL Server. Among other features, Yukon promises tighter integration and accessibility to the .NET Framework, which will make the database more accessible and useful to developers.

Earlier versions of SQL Server relied on Transact-SQL (T-SQL) for stored procedures, triggers, types, and user-defined functions. In Yukon, developers can choose the language they wish to use to access Yukon's functions. Microsoft put Yukon in the hands of beta testers almost a year ago, and early indications are positive.

Yukon provides many new features for developers and administrators that result in increased productivity and reliability of applications developed. This article focuses on the features that the new SQL Server has in its arsenal.

Common Language Runtime Integration
Common Language Runtime (CLR) is the .NET Framework's capability to execute code written in any .NET-compatible programming language such as VB.NET, C#, COBOL.NET, FORTRAN.NET, and the other supported languages.

SQL Server Yukon will be integrated with CLR, which is at the core of the .NET Framework, and as a result will be able to make database development available to more programmers.

Because Yukon is CLR-aware, it promises the following benefits:

1. The .NET code executing in SQL Server runtime/engine will be at least as safe, scalable, secure, and speedy as T-SQL. T-SQL is SQL Server's programming extension to Structured Query Language (SQL) and includes features such as transaction control, exception/error handling, cursor processing, and working with variables.
2. Microsoft will continue to support T-SQL as one of the options to code in SQL Server.
3. Application developers' experience with the database will be enhanced, bringing them closer to the database. Yukon not only enhances the development experience of database developers, it also brings application developers close to databases and attracts them to pursue their career in database development. Most application developers engaged in writing application logic rely on database developers to write code for stored procedures, functions, triggers, and other database objects. Yukon bridges this gap and encourages application developers to code database objects using .NET languages.
4. Yukon represents another step forward in performance, scalability, and integrated business intelligence.

Programmability Advancements
Yukon enables you to use VB.NET, C#, or any .NET-compliant programming language to code stored procedures, triggers, types, and user-defined functions in SQL Server. It allows you to leverage your skills and develop an edge over competitors who use earlier versions of SQL Server.

From a development perspective, it will help you clearly demark the code that should reside in databases and reduce network trips, which promises to boost performance, too. It is a usual scenario where the application code will need to hit the stored procedure or function in order to retrieve data from the database that it can use and manipulate. Having multiple such calls can increase the network trips between the application server and database server, and hence degrade overall performance of the system. It will then be possible to move the code from applications to stored procedures and save network trips and increase performance. This will mean putting additional load on the database, but it will pay off.