Customer Reviews

Microsoft® SQL Server® 2008 Step by Step (Step by Step (Microsoft))

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I just completed a different MS SQL Server 2008 book, and am now wishing that I would have read this first, basically because the author, Hotek, is so much more concise and is defining terms as he goes, and is clearer when describing database concepts. So now I am forced to read this book too, just to clear up what was confusing in the first book!

What this book has that the *other* didn't is a really organized approach to MS SQL Server, including a description of all the tools that come with it and a meaty section on Business Intelligence with chapters on SQL Server Integration, Reporting and Analysis Services, which is the reason I bought this book originally.

As a side note, Mr. Hotek also obviously has a lot of experience and is sane... in Chapter 5, he gives an opinion on database design that I have secretly thought for years and I can't believe he said this:
"...Lost in all of this material is the simple fact that tables have to be created to support an application and the people creating the tables have more important things to worry about than which normal form a database is in or if they remembered to build a logical model and render a physical model from the logical model."

That totally floored me and impressed me. I have read many books where the author is so freaked out about 1st, 2nd and 3rd normal form, that it made me completely cross-eyed. It is the application and the basic design of the database, and what the users need that is what's important... not worrying about conforming to some theoretical utopia. I'm not saying we should build tables full of redundant data - obviously not - but let's stay focused on the task at hand.

Anyway, I would say this is not a book for beginning programmers, but it is a great book for beginning MS SQL server developers.

I recommended in my review of the *other* MS SQL Server 2008 book that you should get more than one book on any technical subject to help fill in the gaps, and hopefully one book can explain concepts that the other can't... I still stand by that.

This book was a pleasant surprise, I was looking for an introduction to SQL Server and this book was exactly that. The chapters were all in manageable sizes with the right amount of detail and exercises (%95+ worked as expected) to reinforce the topic. I don't usually write reviews, but if you are looking like I was for a book provide a basic introduction to SQL Server 2008 I would recommend this one. As a bonus there script which the author says can be used in production to perform backups.

..but let down by some poor editing, and the fact that content, pointed out as being 'online' in the book, doesnt actually exist. Not sure why they couldnt just put the articles on the CD.

Also some of the 'steps' are incomplete..Google came to rescue on the odd occasion. This book needs a companion web site, with an errata list.

Also the book is 500 pages (approx.) not 800 as Amazon indicates.

I would probably supplement this with the 'Pro' book from Wrox.

I'm only on page 93 and already there are 2 scripts that don't work. Because I'm new to SQL this is a major setback because I have to now try to find a resource to help me resolve the problems until I can move forward. I have checked the errata but no mention of these broken scripts.

The author does a great job of making complex topics easy to understand and the book is organized well. The content seems to be most of what any beginning SQL admin would need to know.

I recommend the book but aware you will have trouble with the scripts.

Hemmingway provides a very accurate assessment of this book. My annoyment level though is much higher. The inaccuracy, poor editing, typo's, omissions, examples different from the text make this book more of 1.5 stars. Unless you want to spend of lot of time dealing with editing issues, skip this book.

Simple style, not much on anything really, but as usual for the Step-by-step series it walk you through the whole lot.
I got this book together with some others and don't think will even open it again.
I have not actually read it, as you imagine, just skipped through and realised that it's a bit late for me to read it.
The book it only suitable to someone who wants to start learning MS SQL straight from 2008 and has almost no prior knowledge of relational databases, or came from MS ACCESS space.

good book for starters. would have been great if there are more examples to practice with.

I bought this book in the hope of getting up to speed on SQL Server quickly. I took some database courses in college and have developed a few Access databases here and there, so I wasn't starting from scratch -- but I had not used SQL Server before. I found the book very disappointing, chiefly because it doesn't *explain* SQL Server but instead *defines* it.

By that, I mean that the book does little other than provide the syntax and some code snippets for various features. What it does not do is provide context for the features -- when to use them, how they relate to other features, how to tell if they worked or failed, etc. Likewise, although it provide code snippets, it rarely describes how they work, why a particular approach was used, or common pitfalls to avoid.

This might be a good book for readers who already know SQL Server well, and just want a reference book with some working code samples. But those wishing to learn SQL Server may find it as much a disappointment as I did.

This is simply an awful book. It is full of mistakes and omissions. What makes things worse is that the omissions are in the exercises that you are supposed to do as you work through the chapters. Then when you get to next chapter and those exercises build on things you did prior, your left back tracking to figure out what you should have done in the previous chapter. It's a nightmare of a book, do yourself a favor and pass on this book.

This is an excellent book for a beginner DBA in SQL Server 2008. CD included.