Customer Reviews

Sams Teach Yourself Transact-SQL in 21 Days (2nd Edition)

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(12)

 

 

This book is good for the absolute beginner to TSQL (or SQL). But there are several glaring omissions in this book. How can you leave out ALTER TABLE in a SQL book? I am still miffed by that. If you are serious about SQL, do not use this book as a "reference"; rather, use it as an introduction. And it is an excellent INTRODUCTION, suited to the complete novice. But after you graduate from this book, go buy "Inside Microsoft SQL Server 6.5" by Ron Soukup - which is the best book I have read on the subject (if you're using MS SQL server, that is..)

All in all, "Teach yourself tsql" is worth the money - but as you learn more you will say to yourself, "Why wasn't that in the book?"

I knew only how to pass a SELECT * statement before obtaining this book. I have since taken a job writing code from what I learned from this book. Not only is their a wealth of information, but the exercises challenge the reader to think "outside the box" and create code using the information learned in the chapter. I would have given this book 5 stars but sections like views were a bit weak. After reading this book definitely pick up The Guru's Guide to Transact SQL.

As a relatively new database administrator with no SQL experience, this book was EXACTLY what I needed. It is written in an easy-to-read and easily comprehended style. It takes me everywhere I need to go with confidence that the code I now write will perform the necessary functions...and perform them efficiently and effectively. Thank you, Sam!

I knew absolutely no T-SQL before reading this book. It did a solid job of covering the basics aspects of T-SQL necessary to write Stored Procedures. The main reason I did not give it 5 stars is that it missed some important, but to my mind, basic aspects of SQL programming. For example, how do you program an SP to check for a version of itself and drop it before creating itself again. If you don't run this check, you will end up with some ugly errors.

However, I would strongly recommend this book for anyone with no T-SQL experience.

The first two thirds couldn't be better. The Last third gets very fiddly and is not as well written.

I really doubt anyone could learn Transact-SQL in 21 days using this book. On the contrary, you could spend 21 months with this one and still not get there. It's disorganized and free-styled to a fault. The topics are all over the place. Also the writing is inconsistent. One minute, it's at 30,000 feet, the next minute, it's on the runway. One minute, the author is talking down to you, the next minute, he's attempting to be your buddy. If you're looking for a quick, systematic introduction to Transact-SQL, keep looking.

I read it cover to cover, which I never do, especially for technical books. It started with the basics and finished with the fun stuff. It has greatly improved my productivity. I read the book in about 10 days.

I didn't find anything in this book that wasn't also in the BOL. I also don't think the presentation is any better. The coverage isn't systematic -- it jumps around all over the place. If you're going to learn something in three weeks, you can't take the seat-of-the-pants approach -- you have to attach the subject vigorously. Merely repeating the vendor online docs isn't going to cut it.

There are also numerous technical errors in this book. The description of the DELETE and INSERT commands contain errors -- pretty alarming in a book like this.

Don't like to give one-star reviews, but have no choice here. This one is definitely a turkey.

I had a previous background on Oracle, and was about to head a C/S project based o MSSQL Server. Firt I tried "SQL Server 6.5 Programming - Unleashed" (I had SQL background, didn't I?). Ugh! I found T-SQL was far depart from Oracle (mainly PL/SQL). So I looked for something syntax oriented. "Teachyourself..." was the final answer to shed light on MSSQL implementation of SQL scripting (IMHO, the worst implementation I saw). Despite any weakness in T-SQL itself, the book is well organized and easy to follow (took 15 days, but you know, I was in a hurry). If you're comming from any other SQL dialect, stop by this book to get T-SQL insight.

Everything you find here you can find in the Books Online. I was expecting a systematic introduction to the language. What I got was a hackneyed referenced book. The only thing you'll learn in 21 days from this book is how utterly useless it is.