Sams Teach Yourself Microsoft SQL Server 2000 in 21 Days (2nd Edition) (Sams Teach Yourself)

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Customer Reviews:

A very good book if you're the right audience [Posted on 2004-10-28]
This is a very good book for the newcomer to SQL Server, particularly for those who have little experience with other databases.

It addresses various topics that are just enough to get you started on being able to get some work done with SQL Server and know what else you need to learn. Strange as it may sound, IMHO, discovering what you don't know is a valuable endeavour. Sure, it could've gone into a lot more detail on the query optimizer or how lock escalation really works, etc... but really, where do you draw the line? There's no good place that will please everyone. This book did a decent job.

This is not the book to make you an expert. In fact, it won't even make you an "intermediate" if there's such a state. It introduces enough to get you going. If you find yourself asking "well, what about this?" or "ok, you showed one way to use stored procedures, what if I wanted to ....", then the book has done a good job. If you have no questions or don't know what to ask, then it's failed.

As for the readers/reviewers who slammed the book for not making them experts, really, what were you expecting? You won't even know the ins and outs of installing Oracle or DB2 in 21 days much less get into any useful state (I've been an Oracle DBA for 7 years and DB2 for about 2 years, I know a thing or two about them).

If you are an experienced database administrator or developer on another database, this book is probably kinda slow for you and certainly will not contain the depth that you're probably seeking. For this audience, I'd recommend Inside SQL Server by Kalen Delaney. It's not all there but it's a great start.

Excellent exam prep [Posted on 2005-05-22]
I found this book excellent prep for the MCP exam (70-229). The discussions on deadlocks, indexing, transactions, and security (specifically, application roles and ownership chains) were definitely the difference in my passing the exam.

The authors do a very good job of explaining WHY you would want to do something, not just HOW.

The only negative thing for me was the frequent references to how things used to work in SQL 7.0, 6.5 and earlier.

GREAT Book [Posted on 2005-05-25]
I have a LOT of access experience and wanted to move to SQL Server.
This is a great beginner book for those with a little knowledge of SQL and a lot of knowledge of relational databases.
Great chapters on SQL usage.
GET THIS BOOK!!

I liked the book [Posted on 2005-06-21]
The book was ok. It has taught me a lot. However, it is not without its easily seen errors.

1) Some concepts are not expounded on to make sure a newcomer or complete idiot thoroughly understands what is said. Some sentences can be so concise that it can cause you to take a word for granted (if you aren't paying extra attention) which could lead to complete confusion. thus, if there are no supporting sentences you can be completely lost. It also uses terms without explaining them or maybe expects you to know terms that a newcomer would not know. Some concepts are just not explained clearly period.

2) Some of the exercises use obsolete code. It is as if the person who wrote the chapter didn't write the exercise.

So if you need a book. Yes, buy this book. Hearing the negative comments can distract but at the same time only good comments can cause a person to wonder if something is wrong with him. The book DOES have errors! Point Blank! Some are very noticeable. Few are frustrating. My most frustrating experience so far has been chapter 5. I had to read ch 6 to understand 5 better. But you will learn a lot and the book's exercises do a good job in making sure you understand what was covered. My point is only that if something seems strange like the exercises on chapter 5 (also the exact same, word for word as exercises for ch 6, probably a mistake) it is probably the book and not you. The answers for chap 5 exercises are indeed obsolete (question 1 anyway).

Overall, the book makes learning this stuff very easy.

No peer. [Posted on 2005-08-14]
I use(d) this book as the basis towards my WIN2K MCDBA...It is superior to anything out there including Microsoft's Official MCSE [Exam 70-228] SQL Server 2000 SA Training Kit... includes everything one needs assuming one immerses oneself in the book from Day 1 through Day 21 in addition to Day 22 (SQL Server Analysis Services (OLAP)) and Day 23 (English Query).It is both a superior reference book and programmer's guide. After purchasing Microsoft's official references I found myself repeatedly (frustrated by their shortcomings and referring back to this particular SAMS text). Enough cannot be said about this book.

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