Ryan C. Fox said
This book is excellent. I began reading this book with a limited knowledge of SQL picked up from basic trial and error coding. Most of the time I did not know why or how something worked, only that it did work or in many cases did not work without hours of revision. After reading this book I now have a very good understanding of how code should work and why.
Itzik Ben-Gan is a wonderful author, who really understands how to teach a subject. Instead of just throwing code out there at you for a specific result, he often goes through it line by line letting you know exactly what each step is accomplishing. One of the greatest things about this book is the time taken to emphasize the order in which things are processed in SQL Server. This may seem trivial, but after knowing this I can honestly say 90% of the coding errors I ever suffered where due to not knowing the processing order.
The bottom line is, I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in knowing T-SQL.
Keith S. Safford said
Awesome book on SQL 2008. If you are working with SQL 2008, you HAVE to have this book.
Richard Sveyda said
There are tons of SQL books on the market; this author's books shine above the rest.
Itzik Ben-Gan has become a favourite author. Most books tell you how to write a query- Ben-Gan tells you WHY one method is more EFFICIENT than another.
Anyone who has written a compiler or parser knows which tokens get picked first. Ben-Gan explains how the SQL-engine in SQL Server parses your query so you can write better SQL scripts.
This book is great- so are his others.
Xavier P said
I found this book really helpful for a beginner in SQL server. I think this book is going to be helpful for people with advanced knowledge in SQL as well. It contains valuable information about punctual subjects and all subjects are well explained. Recommended!
SmallBizGuy said
I'm primarily a C++ and Java developer who hasn't worked on SQL for a while. I needed a book to refresh my T-SQL but didn't want to invest in beginners book so I tried to borrow one. This is the one I got my hands onto.
In a pleasant surprise, the book turned out to be a lot more than a refresher. Years ago I learned SQL from books/tutorials that first list the syntax of SELECT query, with all its options, and then explain it. That approach could lead to a lot of misconceptions, such as I thought SELECT clause was processed before the GROUP BY clause. So I never understood why sometimes SQL server laughed at me. It was like I was taught how to translate from English to SQL; so my spoken SQL was more like English than native SQL.
This book teaches you how the SQL queries are logically processed in the head of SQL server. It's like it teaches you the grammar of SQL from the perspective of its native speaker. So ultimately you learn how to think in SQL; an essential step in mastering any language.
On the flip side, the book has a lot of repetition of concepts. He states the concept in the beginning of the section and then in every example he repeats the whole concept. Considering the book is targeted for beginners, I'm willing to ignore it.
I would recommend this book to beginners and struggling professionals.
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