Customer Reviews

Microsoft SQL Server 2008 All-in-One Desk Reference For Dummies

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I bought this book from Barnes and Noble because I could not wait. To my delight I found this book to be well written in a lucid style. This book, mercifully, leaves out the BS that clutter most computer books. On the first day I was able to install the MS SQL server - beware it is not that simple! It is very easy to miss the Full Text search and the Filestream install.

I would have been lost if I had only this book to teach me SQL. However, I had some background in SQL, imparted by the Head First SQL book, and the famous Ben Forta SQL book.

I will suggest that you get your feet wet by the HeadFirst SQL book. Surely, it will be money well spent because learning SQl from this Dummy book will be difficult. SQL is a language which needs time and effort, and this book spends only a fraction of pages teaching SQL. Having said that, the fraction of pages is very well written.

Before I discovered MS SQL Server I was using MySQL programs to write queries, programs like MySQL query browser, Navicat and SQLYOG. MS Sql Server, on the other hand, was a Eureka moment, for example, among other things, the query builder is phenomenal. It will help you get results from multiple tables in a few minutes as compared to writing code (although you must know how to write SQL code for fine tuning the queries. Besides, writing SQl code is not that difficult, thanks to Head First and Ben Forta books).

The current Dummies book 'Microsoft SQl server 2008' is a breath of fresh air. Many a times it gave me insights into the SQL language which made things simpler.
IMHO, if you are a beginner, you MUST start with Head First SQL AND Ben Forta SQL books before you plunge into this book, but this book won't disappoint you, in fact you will be able to write a working DB.
All in all, a great book to have in your library - a good resource and a good friend. Highly recommended.

M Khan

I had the same problem with the MSDN tutorials. Apparently, there are many versions of the AdventureWorks database package. I have the official AdventerWorks2008R2_SR1 84MB version. I tried other versions, and they had other problems. The entire situation is a FUBAR mess. For example, the tutorial instructs me to use the AdventureWorks2008 database, I find the following databases included with the package: AdventerWorks, AdventerWorksDW, AdventerWorksDW2008R2, AdventerWorks2008T, AdventerWorksLT, AdventerWorksLT2008R2, but no "AdventerWorks2008." I try the "AdventureWorks" database, but cannot find a person.person table. I am giving up in frustration. I will send the book back, if I can.

I was looking for a book to learn about SQL Servers, and I found this book in Amazon. It is a good book so far from what I have read.

this has been a great help using SQL server 2008, I'm still going through the book and learning more each time i use this book