There is an older book available from Redgate called The Guide to SQL Server Team Development[/url]. It's free to download. It has a chapter on coding standards. The rest of the book is somewhat out of date.

The main point is clarity. Consistent aliases is one. For example, this should not be done:

SELECT ...

FROM SomeTable a

JOIN SomeOtherTable b

ON a.id=b.id

JOIN YetAnotherTable c

ON b.id = c.id

WHERE...;

SELECT ...

FROM DifferentTable a

JOIN NotTheSameTable b

ON a.id = b.id

WHERE...;

You're using the same aliases for different tables. In a really tiny query like this, no big deal. In a larger query it makes everything harder to read and understand. Clarity is key. Something like this:

SELECT ...

FROM SomeTable AS st

JOIN SomeOtherTable AS sot

ON st.id=sot.id

JOIN YetAnotherTable AS yat

ON sot.id = yat.id

WHERE...;

SELECT ...

FROM DifferentTable AS dt

JOIN NotTheSameTable AS ntst

ON dt.id = ntst.id

WHERE...;

Every time you reference a table, use the same alias. That consistency will make all your code more readable. I also break they queries vertically as you can see. I use the AS keyword to mark aliases because it makes the code more clear. I always terminate each statement with a semi-colon since more and more that's a requirement within SQL Server.