A. Pappas said
The whole first part of this book is just filler. It is a long walkthrough of the features found in SSMSE.
The very first code examples don't work specifically the smo backup code... and the code examples aren't teaching proper coding techniques. The writers of this book need to take a course on Microsoft's Design Guidelines.
This book is teaching bad programming habits, the code is incorrect, and the book is stuffed with filler.
M. Loftus said
This is your typical intro book, good for a tour through the highlights. But it is not a reference book, and because it covers so many topics it can spend very little time on any one subject. You will find all the material at the MS web site. You will still need to find more thorough reference material in order to be successful.
Stacey Yasenka said
From the beginning, this text illustrated an overview of the SQL CLR with a sufficient amount of detail so that someone just starting to learn SQL could understand it, but also a developer familiar with this topic would benefit from this review. Debugging was covered extensively in Chapter 9. I was impressed with all of the scenerios that were brought to light for debugging SQL Server code. I especially liked Chapter 7 on Security. The chapter started off slow to make sure the reader understood the four themes of SQL Server 2005 security, and then went on to explain encryption support and protecting SQL 2005 with great examples. I would definitely recommend this book to any developer interested in learning about new features in SQL Server 2005. I found it to be extremely well-written, interesting, and helpful!
Chris Anderson said
I've had this book for a little over a week, looking for time to give it some proper due. Now I only wished I had delved into it right away. Or gotten it sooner. It's now moved to the front of the line as my favorite reference book.
Clearly written and organized, it took me all of 15 minutes to follow a new concept (to me). It was logical, building upon itself and fully explained what was going on, and HOW it works too. It's been my experience in the past that developer books fall into one of two categories: Tutorial and Reference. This is the first one that I have seen sucessfully split the two and combine the best of both. The author right up front explains what the book does and does not cover.
This book isn't for DBAs or people who want to know how to use SQL Server 2005. The book is for developers who want to know how to use the new features of SQLServer 2005, and how to use them in .NET 2.0.
I'm not sure how I've gone so long with out this book. Just in the last hour, it's been a life savor. I'm learning about capabilities that I'd never seen documented anywhere else.
Christophe Besant said
This book is clearly written and I feel it does a good job of covering the major new features of SQL Server 2005 well enough so you can get up to speed quickly and save enough time versus puzzling things out using just the online materials that come with SQL Server 2005 to easily justify the purchase price and reading time. A number of people with expertise in various aspects of SQL Server collaborated on this book, and the value of the information in each area reflects the depth of expertise.
The book is thick, but it's not bloat -- there is just a heck of a lot of stuff to cover in SQL Server 2005. If anything, I'd be happy to buy the book again if another edition comes out with 300 more pages full of more details and more complex examples in several areas. In the mean time, there is plenty to get one going and fill out specific details with the online doco and the 'net.
I think this book is too advanced for programmers who aren't already up to speed with .NET and relational database server programming. For those of us for which MS SQL 2005 is mostly just another iteration of good ol' Squirrel Server (albeit a big whopping upgrade architecturally and feature-wise), and who've already moved to C# + VS 2005 + .NET 2.0, this is the best book I've found so far.
I addition to covering the new features of SQL Server 2005, this book also provides deeper coverage of several advanced relational database techniques than just the enhancements specific to the 2005 edition of SQL Server. OLAP and XML operations being prime examples. I think the authors made a good choice by providing more than just an overview of the 2005 enhancements as without the broader coverage, presentation of the enhancements themselves wouldn't have made much sense to me.
I also think the book is pretty well organized so you don't have to waste time hunting down what you need. I do warn you however, that you may have to read some parts of the book first before plunging into the specific topic you need first. It's not a fault: SQL Server 2005 includes the CLR, and much of the rest of the book sensibly uses C# on the SQL Server CLR examples, so you kinda have to get up to speed programming in the SQL server CLR first, don't you?
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