Product Description
Encoded characteristic functions (ECF) is a new, innovative SQL programming methodology which allows programmers to encode conditional logic as scalar expressions within certain clauses. These extremely powerful techniques are presented by the authors of ECF in "Optimizing Transact-SQL". ... Read more

Customer Reviews (26)

Must have for SQL gurus
Somebody took my copy of this book, which I've owned for years, and now I MUST get another copy! I feel naked without it!
It's helped me do things never considered possible previously. I guess I'd call it "Quantum SQL".

Anything Rozenshtein Writes I'll Read
Read all the reviews.I've read all of the public articles that Rozenshtein wrote. Those of you who read the book and did not value the content, I wonder about you."Impossible" "Skip this one""Esoterica"Did you miss the most important point of the book?Think differently and you just might find a simple elegant solution to your data access problem.

I can hear the groanings now, "cross table joins, elegant"?What you do not know is that when Rozenshtein proposed the solutions you read about, the companies he worked with set down expectations under which Rozenshtein worked.He was to find a one-pass method of solving the data access problems of a company who had poorly designed very large databases and a limited time to assemble the data needed for daily reporting.Rozenshtein only had enough time to make one-pass through all the databases at once to collect the data for these daily reports.

What you read in this book is about brilliant problem solving that produces results businesses value.Rozenshtein is a mathmatician sought out by large companies to solve data access problems that their staff could not solve.

This book is about data access problem solving to produce results.I believe most everyone could stand to improve their results.

CASE can't do pivots!
All of you who are saying that CASE makes characteristics obsolete: show me how to write a pivot query that does not use a temp table using the CASE function - and without having to hardcode the column headings! Avoiding a temp table can make a huge impact on the scalability of your application.

To me - this was the only value of this book: the first three articles. The rest consisted of the esoterica described by the others.

Slow Rube Goldberg techniques
Using functions that are nearly impossible to read to do what CASE can do for you is pretty darn silly.I bought the book without realizing how old it is -- it's circa 1994.A lot has changed since then, including the support of ANSI SQL '92's CASE function by most of the major DBMS vendors.Also, the code in this book trades efficiency for code paucity.Who cares whether you do something with a single SELECT?Isn't the idea to use the database as efficiently as possible?Cartesian products don't add up to efficiency.They add up to code that appears to run well against small data sets, but that will choke badly when faced with real data.

Techniques are impossible to read and unnecessary
Not worth the cost at all in my opinion.The techniques demonstrated areobsolete (ever hear of CASE?), slow, and impossible to read.Skip thisone. ... Read more

Product Description

In just 24 lessons of one hour or less, you will learn professional techniques to design and build efficient databases and query them to extract useful information. Using a straightforward, step-by-step approach, each lesson builds on the previous one, allowing you to learn the essentials of ANSI SQL from the ground up.

Example code demonstrates the authors’ professional techniques, while exercises written for MySQL offer the reader hands-on learning with an open-source database. Included are advanced techniques for using views, managing transactions, database administration, and extending SQL.

Step-by-step instructions carefully walk you through the most common SQL tasks.

Q&As, Quizzes, and Exercises at the end of each chapter help you test your knowledge.

Notes and Tips point out shortcuts and solutions.

New terms are clearly defined and explained.

Learn how to…

• Use SQL-2003, the latest standard for the Structured Query Language
• Design and deploy efficient, secure databases
• Build advanced queries for information retrieval
• Sort, group, and summarize information for best presentation
• Tune databases and queries for maximum performance
• Understand database administration and security techniques

For more than ten years the authors have studied, applied, and documented the SQL standard and its application to critical database systems.

Ryan Stephens and Ron Plew are entrepreneurs, speakers, and cofounders of Perpetual Technologies, Inc. (PTI), a fast-growing IT management and consulting firm which specializes in database technologies. They taught database courses for Indiana University—Purdue University in Indianapolis for five years and have authored more than a dozen books on Oracle, SQL, database design, and the high availability of critical systems.

Arie D. Jones is Senior SQL Server database administrator and analyst for PTI. He is a regular speaker at technical events and has authored several books and articles.

Category: Database

Covers: ANSI SQL

User Level: Beginning—Intermediate

Register your book at informit.com/title/9780672330186 for convenient access to updates and corrections

as they become available.

$34.99 USA / $ 37.99 CAN / £ 24.99 Net UK

Customer Reviews (32)

Review of SQL
The book is very helpful. I like the way it is layed out and it is a great help to me. I reference it quiet often to see how to do a specific thing in my code.

Editor needed
This book is full of typos, bad examples and bad code. The only way you learn SQL through this book is by researching the error codes you receive on messageboards. There is no help through the website. The website tries to sell you additional product. Save your money. Save your sanity. Get a different book.

It's just ok
I totally agree with a lot of the other reviewers. I am also shocked at the amount of errors in this book. (Yes, THIRD edition! The Editor and/or Technical consultant should be fired!)
I found myself questioning the credibility of the examples being given by the time I was a third of the way through the book.
I believe it hasn't misled me too much because I did have some SQL experience before starting it - I just wanted to go through it as a refresher.
I really wanted a lot more information about the more advanced queries using Joins etc. - this is not covered in any great detail. I would have liked to see some good examples about why a query built in one way would show X rows whereas a query built another way would show Y rows.
It's ok to get you started I suppose but I'm sure there are MUCH better books out there not to mention courses online!

Good book for Beginners
The back cover says it is beginner to intermediate. It is actually only beginner. It is not intermediate at all!

The book has good points. I had a basic understanding of SQL. It might be good for those taking a class in school or who need to do some basic queries. It covers different types of joins on a basic level. It talks about subqueries and compound queries. I also liked the section on when to use indexing.

If you are familar with these things already, you need not read this book.It did not cover the prefered JOIN ON syntax. It only used (+) symbols to indicate left and right outer joins. It did not discuss variations in inner join syntax either.This was the frustrating part for me. I at least expect the basics to be consistent and thorough.

It is easy to read. I did notice typos and whole examples missing. It just gives you abasic idea of what syntax should or may be like, you should get a book that takes a little more pride in what it is teaching and at least show several COMMON implementations of a syntax. You will have to get another book anyway just to learn the correct syntax.

The book would have been better if it combined some of the concepts using compound, subqueries, and outer joins in one query.Then i would say that it dips into the intermediate level. This book only touches the basics and it won't take long before you are looking for more.

Too Many Mistakes
I wanted to provide feedback on this book. I am shocked at how many mistakes I've found in the examples, Q&A, workshops, and exercises.
I had some basic understanding of SQL before I started reading this book, but am trying to learn from this book to better my foundation of knowledge of SQL. Unfortunately, too many times I hit yet another mistake in the book that causes me to have to figure out the problem by working around the book, not with it, or worse, I may not be certain I've even understood the concept to due several contradictions between the conceptual material and the examples/exercises.

Learning a database language by unlearning mistakes in the training material is not the right way to learn anything.

I have the third edition. I have not seen the fourth edition, but my confidence is not strong the issues will have been ironed out (they haven't been by the third edition). ... Read more

Product Description
Here’s the utterly practical, pocket-sized reference for IT professionals who need to administer, optimize, and maintain Microsoft SQL Server 2005 in their organization. This unique guide provides essential details for using Microsoft SQL Server 2005 to help protect and manage your company’s data—whether automating tasks; creating indexes and views; performing backups and recovery; replicating transactions; tuning performance; managing server activity; importing and exporting data; or performing other key tasks. Featuring quick-reference tables, lists, and step-by-step instructions, this handy, one-stop guide provides fast, accurate answers on the spot—whether you’re at your desk or in the field! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (16)

A Must have for SQL 05 users
The pocket size and wealth of info is great to have around as a DBA. Great product.

Hardly a pocket book
It clearly defies the title but does provide with very useful information. I am quite impressed. I have read this book as a pro. And is recommended only for pros.
Beginners please read something else first before you jump on this one.

A must have!
This handy pocket consultant is a must have for administrators and developers. It delivers exactly what is promised: a handy guide for daily administration. Out of all my sql server books this is the one I refer to the most.

Excellent resource for DBAs
SQL Server 2005 Administrator's Pocket Consultant is an excellent reference for DBAs and System Administrators planning to implement and maintain SQL Server 2005. While the book is written for Administrators, database developers will benefit from it as well. This one does a great job of laying it out in plain English. The focus is on daily administration tasks, and there's a heaping helping of SQL commands as well. Highly recommended.

Basic things for beginners
This book is clearly targeted for the beginners and it is a good reference for them. Also, if you are an experienced SQL 2000 DBA/developer and want to get basic but neccessary information on SQL 2005 administration, this is an excellent book.

This covers most areas well except:

1)Security, user, and schema administration. This book's coverage is very scanty.
2)Replication: very basic coverage at best and it will not help you understand SQL 2005 replication very much.
3)Data Mirroring: this part is OK, except it doesn't cover it in details as it needs to.
4)Log shipping: Maybe half a page dedicated to it.
5)Clustering: no coverage whatsoever.
6)T-SQL: almost no coverage except for administrative matters ("alter database/table" etc).
7)Performance tuning: almost none.


... Read more

Product Description
Harness the power of SQL Server, Microsoft’s high-performance database and data analysis software package, by accesing everything you need to know in Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Bible. Learn the best practices, tips, and tricks from this comprehensive tutorial and reference, which includes specific examples and sample code, with nearly every task demonstrated in both a graphical and SQL code method. Understand how to develop SQL Server databases and data connections, how to administer the SQL Server and keep databases performing optimally, and how to navigate all the new features of the 2008 release. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Essential Book for SqlServer/DBA developers
This book it's very complete, Covers almost all features of Sql Server 2008, not in depth, but it gives a nice direction for many features. Essential for beginners and most experienced in older versions do MS SQL Server. Covers all news features with examples.

You can tell he lives, eats and breathes SQL Server
I have the two previous editions (2000 and 2005).
This one is heavier than the other two - 1642 pages compared to 1293 and 890.
And the paper stock is better as well.
The tone is almost conversational in that Paul Nielsen comes up with likely scenarios to show the syntax of a command.
You can tell that a lot of his tips come from hindsight.Here's an example of a Best Practice tip found on page 263: "Use a join to pull data from two data sources that can be filtered or manipulated as a whole after the join.If the data must be manipulated prior to the join, then use a derived table subquery."

That piece of advice comes from someone who has had to tackle problems using both techniques.

And he's not afraid to tell you worst practices either.Page 547: "Any table design that requires sparse columns is a horrible design."
This is especially helpful if you're learning a new feature and want to know if it's worth the effort.

Don't think that this is an A-Z reference manual.
Chapter 53 is Mr. Nielsen's "AutoAudit", which is quite a nifty code generator to add auditing to your tables.

Understands SQL Server
Paul Nielson is one of the few people out there who really understands SQL Server in depth.This book works very well with the author's video course, published by Total Training.

A comprehensive coverage of SQL Server 2008
I was introduced to this huge informative book by one of my friends at work place. This is a great reference book for almost everyone starting from beginners to advanced database programmers/admins. It is very difficult to cover all aspects of SQL Server in a single book. Howver, the authr(s) have done a good job in covering almost all the features of SQL Servers. This book helps developers who want to know one and everything in SQL Server. However, certain chapers such as "Service Broker" could have been detailed out more considering that these are more advanced. I especially liked the Partitioning, LINQ, Change Data Capture. It has touched upon the Business intelligence and it could have been done better. However, as I said it is already a huge book and adding more materials would have been even more. Rather this solves the purpose to a great deal as a reference book for almost all domains DBAs and developers to jump start in SQL Server.

Perfect for Developers and DBA's
SQL Server 2008 Bible is an absolute must for anyone wishing to enhance their SQL Server skills. There is information in there for everyone from a Developer being able to write more optimal queries to the Database Administrator who has much more complicated tasks to accomplish. This book took my knowledge from a very basic level as a developer to a level where I became a database answer point for many on my development team. I strongly recommend this book to anyone that wishes to enhance their SQL Server knowledge. This book is also one of the few that I always have within easy reach when working on development tasks. ... Read more

Product Description

Microsoft SQL Server Analysis Services provides fast access to data by means of multidimensional data structures and the multidimensional query languag MDX. Analysis Services provides the capability to design, create, and manage multidimensional cubes based on data warehouse tables, and it serves as the foundation for the Microsoft  Business Intelligence strategy.

Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Analysis Services gives the reader insight into the way Analysis Services functions. It not only explains ways to design and create multidimensional objects, databases, dimensions, and cubes, but also provides invaluable information about the reasons behind design decisions made by the development team. 

Here's what you will find inside:

• Understand the key concepts of multidimensional modeling
• Explore the multidimensional object model and its definition language
• Learn the main concepts of the MDX language and gain an in-depth understanding of advanced MDX concepts
• Understand the mechanisms of integrating multidimensional and relational databases
• Learn how to build client applications to access data in Analysis Services
• Examine server architecture, including main data structures, data processing, and query resolution algorithms
• Gain a deep understanding of the internal and external protocols for data transfer, including the XML/A protocol
• Explore how Analysis Services manages memory
• Explore the security model, including role-based security, code-access security, and data security
• Discover how to monitor and manage Analysis Services

All the code for the sample database used in the book can be found at www.informit.com/title/0672327821.

Customer Reviews (19)

buy only if you really care about internals of analysis services
complete waste of time and money. users of analysis services should have no business learning how msas works under the hood. if you want to learn mdx and cube design principles read something else.

This book is best designed for reference or review (not learning)
OK here is an example of smart, comprehensive, hard working people writing a book that unfortunately takes far too much will power to try to learn from. It's the kind of book you can understand only if you already know most of it before you read it. So it's really reference review material. As an author I know they worked hard and put much of their lives into it. It makes a good reference book I will give it three stars. Great reference, not a good learning tool. Sorry.

Very technical but drastically in need of an editor(s)
I read a good part of this book (before I left it on a bus!) and found it both invaluable and infuriating.

It contains information not found in any other SSAS 2005 book I have come across (I own and have read about 5 others), but it is sorely in need of a traditional book editor to make the language (English) readable and a technical editor to bring the explanations down to a level that can be understood by mere mortals.

Invaluable, because it is the only book that covers certain information about the SSAS engine internals, but it could have been so much more useful to we SSAS practitioners if the writing was better.

Good Reference, but Don't Expect Tips and Tricks or even Ideas on Problem Solving
I bought this book because I was facing a few specific problems while implementing Analysis Services.This book did not help much there.As I was reading, I found that this book does have great content on the design of MS-AS2005.It's a great reference book to have handy because it consolidates information in one book and often describes the motivations for certain designs.Likewise, the book never discussed the significant missing feature in the product, nor workarounds to handle some of the very common requirements.That, while not surprising given the authors are from Microsoft design team, is not helpful.

Ultimately I don't regret buying this book, but don't expect it to solve many of your challenging problems.The materials in this book should have been included in the original product documentations!

Get this book if you want to master SSAS
I came from the world of Hyperion Essbase and decided to switch to Microsoft SQL Server Analysis services. The SQL server books online seemed to be lacking in some details (or examples) and other SSAS printed books seem to be more of the beginner level books or step by step tutorial books. They are good to start with but not deep enough. If you are just starting in the BI and OLAP world, get those books first.

This book is not a general BI book and is more specific to SSAS details. Because of my prior understanding of of data warehousing and OLAP, I was able to build SSAS cubes in no time but there were some lingering questions on how do I do this in SSAS (compared to doing it in Essbase) andother low level details. This is the only SSAS book that I found so far that goes into enough details of SSAS that no other book goes into.

If you are just starting with Microsoft BI and need to learn the concepts of data warehousing (star and snowflake schema), OLAP, ETL and SSIS, get one of the other books first. Then do the SSAS books online tutorials. Once you are ready to dig deeper into SSAS and build enterprise class analysis services cubes, this book would be a great help.

Here is a quote from Nigel Pendse of The OLAP Report in the foreword of this book:
"This book is not intended to teach new users how to use Analysis Services 2005; it is for technically competent implementers who want to make the most of Analysis Services by understanding how it really works..." ... Read more

Product Description

The Fifth Edition of Sams Teach Yourself SQL in 21 Days

More than 48,000 sold!

In just one hour a day, you’ll have all the skills you need to begin creating effective SQL queries, reports, and database applications. With this complete tutorial, you’ll quickly master the basics and then move on to more advanced features and concepts:

• Quickly apply essential SQL techniques in useful, real-world queries
• Design trustworthy, high-performance databases
• Manipulate your data with views and transactions
• Leverage powerful features including stored procedures, triggers, and cursors
• Work with new objects introduced with the latest SQL standards
• Get practical, expert tips on implementing SQL in your business environment

Learn on your own time, at your own pace

• No previous SQL or database experience required
• Learn techniques that work with any current version of SQL
• Discover how to write faster, more efficient queries
• Secure your data using best practices from experienced database administrators
• Build more powerful databases with features exclusive to Oracle SQL*Plus, Oracle PL/SQL, and Microsoft Transact-SQL
• Write queries for the free, open source MySQL database
• Embed your SQL code in other applications

Ryan Stephens and Ron Plew are President and VP of Perpetual Technologies, Inc. (PTI) in Indianapolis, IN, providing managed services and consulting for top database implementations running Oracle, SQL Server, and other leading technologies. They taught for 5+ years as adjunct professors at Indiana University-Purdue University. Their books include Sams Teach Yourself SQL in 24 Hours, First through Fourth Editions, Sams Teach Yourself SQL in 21 Days, Second through Fourth Editions, and Database Design.

Table of Contents

Introduction  1

PART I: Introducing SQL

LESSON 1: Getting Started with SQL     5

     A Brief History of SQL     5

     A Brief History of Databases     6

     Today’s Database Landscape     11

     A Cross-Product Language     12

         Early Implementations     12

         SQL and Client/Server Application Development     13

    An Overview of SQL     13

    Popular SQL Implementations     14

         MySQL     14

         Oracle     14

         Microsoft SQL Server and Sybase     15

         IBM DB2     16

    Open Database Connectivity     16

    Embedding SQL in Application Programming     17

LESSON 2: Introducing the Query     21

    Exploring SQL’s Background     21

    Learning Basic Query Syntax     22

    The Building Blocks of Data Retrieval: SELECT and FROM     23

    Applying Query Concepts     25

    Writing Your First Query     26

         Terminating a SQL Statement     28

         Selecting Individual Columns     28

         Changing the Order of the Columns     29

         Selecting Different Tables     31

    Selecting Distinct Values     31

         Exercises  37

LESSON 3: Expressions, Conditions, and Operators     39

    Working with Query Expressions     40

    Placing Conditions on Queries     40

    Learning How to Use Operators     42

        Arithmetic Operators     42

        Comparison Operators     55

        Character Operators     63

        Logical Operators     70

        Set Operators     75

        Miscellaneous Operators: IN and BETWEEN     78

LESSON 4: Clauses in SQL Queries     85

    Specifying Criteria with the WHERE Clause     87

    Order from Chaos: The ORDER BY Clause     89

    The GROUP BY Clause     98

    The HAVING Clause     105

    Combining Clauses     112

        Example 4.1     112

        Example 4.2     113

        Example 4.3     113

        Example 4.4     115

LESSON 5: Joining Tables     121

    Joining Multiple Tables in a Single SELECT Statement     121

        Cross Joining Tables     123

        Finding the Correct Column     128

    Joining Tables Based on Equality     129

    Joining Tables Based on Nonequality     137

    OUTER JOINs Versus INNER JOINs     139

    Joining a Table to Itself: The Self Join     143

LESSON 6: Embedding Subqueries into Queries     151

    Building a Subquery     153

    Using Aggregate Functions with Subqueries     160

    Nesting Subqueries     162

    Referencing Outside with Correlated Subqueries     166

    Using EXISTS, ANY, and ALL     169

LESSON 7: Molding Data with Built-in Functions     179

    Using Aggregate Functions to Summarize Data     180

         COUNT     180

         SUM     181

         AVG     182

         MAX     184

         MIN     185

 &nb... ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

SQL in One hour a Day
This book I recommend for every beginners in SQL.
The book is very organized and have a lot of exercises.

SQL
This book is for people who want to learn the fundamentals of structured query language (sql) quickly. Through the use of countless examples, this book depicts all the major components of sql, as well as options that are available with various database implementations. You should be able to apply what you learn here to relational databases in a traditional business setting. This book has chosen to use MySQL for hands-on exercises. Over the past decade the landscape of information technology has drastically shifted to a data-centric world. More than ever companies are looking for ways in which they can leverage their own data networks to make intelligent business decisions. This includes the ability to gather, store, and report effectively over possibly large sets of data in multiple formats. So the role of a database administrators and developers has become strategically important in the proper implementation and care of these systems. ... Read more

Product Description

Microsoft SQL Server Integration Services is Microsoft’s powerful platform for building enterprise-level data integration and data transformation solutions. It’s a powerful product, but it’s also complex and can be confusing if you don’t have a clear map for the journey. Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Integration Services Unleashed will be the only book you’ll need to harness the power that Integration Services provides.

Through clear, concise explanations and samples, you’ll grasp a clear understanding of working in the Integration Services environment, including how to set up stock components, how to use the various designer features, and how to gain practical knowledge on configuring, deploying, securing, and managing packages. Sample packages are provided to reinforce the discussion and quickly help you gain hands-on experience, and more complex topics such as Data Flow Task internals and tuning, advanced transformations, and writing custom components are all illustrated in easy-to-understand graphics. In addition, there are several custom tasks and transformations and two useful utilities with full source code available for you to use and study, including an ADO.NET destination, a text file encryption task, and a data profiling transform.

Detailed information on:

• Using the powerful Integration Services tools to create solutions without the need to write lines of code
• Creating packages programmatically or developing custom tasks via the Integration Services object
• Building robust packages to solve common requirements
• Securing packages for different environments
• Using often overlooked or unknown platform features
• Setting up all the stock components, including data flow components, tasks, Foreach enumerators, connection managers, and log providers
• Writing robust and useful custom tasks
• Building packages that seamlessly deploy to other environments
• Writing custom data flow adapters and transforms
• Using script tasks and components
• Easily modifying configurations for multiple packages simultaneously
• Writing a Task UI that looks just like the stock tasks
• Tapping into the power of Integration Services for accessing heterogeneous data sources
• Using expressions to make packages more responsive to the environment
• Migrating your DTS packages with no stress

Kirk Haselden is the Group Program Manager for the Microsoft Master Data Management product forthcoming in the next wave of Office SharePoint Services and owns the long term strategy, vision, planning, and development of that product. Kirk has been with Microsoft for 12 years in various groups including Hardware, eHome, Connected Home, SQL Server, and Office Business Platform. He was the development manager for Integration Services and the primary designer for the runtime, as well as many of the tasks. He has written a number of articles for SQL Server Magazine, speaks regularly at industry events, writes profusely on his personal and MSDN blog, and holds 35 patents or patents pending.

Category: Microsoft SQL Server

Covers: Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Integration Services

User Level: Intermediate—Advanced

$59.99 US / $71.99 CAN / £38.99 Net UK

Customer Reviews (3)

Good introduction but...
This will provide a good introduction to SSIS. I think beginners will be able to follow it cover-to-cover with no problem. Unfortunately, C# pollution is now in SSIS and this book is full of it and you find that out after you buy it.

Buen libro de principio a fin (Good book from start to finish)
En el libro SQL Server 2008 Integration Services, Kirk Haselden hace un buen trabajo al proveer una basta explicación de principio a fin de lo que es Integration Services y para que utilizarlo. El autor utiliza una gran cantidad de ejemplos que están disponibles para bajar en la página del libro ([...])para demostrar sus conceptos.

Hasta los lectores con menos experiencia o que se estén moviendo de DTS a SSIS encontraran una clara explicación de la nuevas funcionalidades existentes en SQL Server 2008 (como mejoras al "Data Flow Task", mejor experiencia en la creación de Scripts en VB y C#, "Data Profiling Task", etc...)

El autor nos lleva desde la instalación, mejores prácticas de la migración de DTS a SSIS, los conceptos básicos de SSIS, creación de packetes, manejo de variables y manejo de eventos hasta el desarrollo de componentes "custom" en el casode que los componentes que son incluidos con SSIS no cumplan con las necesidades del usuario.

El libro está escrito de una forma en que cada capítulo puede ser leído independientemente de los otros y por lo tanto es buen libro de referencia.

Algo que personalmente encuentro que es muy bueno es que los ejemplos que utiliza el autor son ejemplos que pueden ser aplicados directamente al área de trabajo sin muchas modificaciones.

Este definitivamente debería ser un libro para su colección de libros de bases de datos.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In the book SQL Server 2008 Integration Services, Kirk Haselden makes a good job in providing good explanation from start to finish of what Integration Services is all about and when it should be used. The author uses good examples that are available for download at the books website ([...]) to prove his concepts.

Even the least experienced readers or the ones that are moving from DTS to SSIS will find a clear explanation of the new features in SSIS 2008 (like improvements to the Data Flow Task, better scripting experience VB and C#, Data Profiling Task, etc...)

The author takes us from the installation, DTS to SSIS best practices, SSIS basics, package creation, variables, error handling, to the development of custom components.

The book is written in such a way that each chapter can be read independently of each other and for that reason makes a good reference book.

Something that I personally like is that it provide good examples that with little modification con be applied your work area.

This would be a good book to add to your db books collection.

simplifies SQL Server [somewhat]
There's a small irony here. As Microsoft has vastly built up its SQL Server, the complexity of understanding and using it has concomitantly risen. Which in turn has led to the features discussed at length in the book. These broadly try to help you grasp the many parts of SQL Server. But the very heft of the book suggests that things are still non-trivial.

One message across the chapters is that the task user interfaces are as similar as can be, to ease learning. There are also various connection managers that handle reading or connecting to data of different formats, or to different types of data servers. So you don't waste your time on low level tasks of "impedance matching". At the simplest level, there is a Flat File Connection Manager, for reading a flat fileof tabular data. This might be CSV or fixed width. Other connection managers go out on the network to get ftp files, or files with an HTTP address.

The amount of actual programming has been deliberately minimised. This is another pervasive theme of the book. To the extent that you do have to [or want to] program, it is at the scripting level. The example scripts do not seem difficult, but this opinion may vary as a function of your background.

Potentially the highest value aspects of the Integration Services concern Business Intelligence. This term is used in various places throughout the book, which does advise you that the term spans a "broad and deep field". Essentially, think of it as Artificial Intelligence in a business analysis context. Be aware that the BI aspects are very rudimentary. [Don't get your hopes up.] There are some neat little tools, like a Slowly Changing Dimension Wizard and data cleansers. Useful, and it's good that Integration Services has them. But they handle relatively low level issues. ... Read more

Product Description

Assuming neither database nor programming background, Beginning SQL Server 2005 Express for Developers introduces all the fundamental database administration and SQL programming features of SQL Server 2005 Express Edition, the free relational database management system from Microsoft that provides a major subset of full SQL Server 2005 functionality.

This book is a comprehensive guide that covers installing and configuring SQL Server 2005 Express; creating, backing up, and restoring databases; creating tables, then querying and manipulating them with T-SQL; coding stored procedures and triggers, and using Reporting Services to deliver information to end users. Detailed, clear, and highly readable, this book will make you a competent and confident database administrator and programmer.

• This is the clearest and most comprehensive introduction to SQL Server 2005 Express.
• The book assumes no prior experience with databases, SQL, or programming.
• Youll learn about both database administration and T-SQL programming.
• The book covers SQL Server Management Studio and Reporting Services.

Customer Reviews (4)

Excellent way to learn SQL Server Express
Being self-taught in SQL Server, I need to rely on books and online help.This book is always on my desk.Many of the books I refer to are good for table set up and execution of queries.This book covers so much more.
This book covers installation and installation issues, Command Line Tools, Security and Permissions, Visual Web Developer and more.What I like about this book is that the author is speaking to a beginner, not someone who dreams of stored procedures but someone just learning the ropes.
I highly recommend this book to someone just starting out.This is an excellent reference book that is easy for a beginner to understand.

Raving review
The instructor for this class stated, "the book is very easy to understand and covers all the basic features of SQL Server administration and basic SQL programming."

A good way to learn the inner workings of SQL Server
I have been querying SQL Server databases for six years using .Net. This book took me inside SQL Server and showed me how to manage tables, relations, stored proceedures, indexes and triggers.

The book achieves great mix of instruction and best practices. At times, I found myself wanting to know more but the book is already over 400 pages.

A very good way to learn SQL Server 2005 Express
This is an excellent book for learning SQL Server 2005 Express.I started learning MS Access in 2003 when my wife asked me to develop a database for her to use at work.At the time I knew only the words "relational database".Over 99% of what I needed to know to develop that contact and resource management database to its fully featured capability came from multiple books.

The expectations have changed over time and now I need to use SQL Server 2005 Express as a back end with Access as the front end for that database.Knowing nothing about SQL Server 2005, I needed a very good book to help bring me up to speed.I found that in Robin Dewson's "Beginning SQL Server 2005 Express."

From the installation of SQL Server 2005 Express through an explanation of Triggers and Reporting Services, there is a clear and concise explanation of each aspect with the opportunity to Try It Out.I needed to know all of what he presents and I was especially interested in Installation, Security, and Database Backup, Recovery, and Maintenance.The Installation chapter explains very carefully and clearly authentication mode, service accounts, user instances, etc.The Security chapter clearly explains logins, server roles, database roles, and schemas.The Database Backup, Recovery, and Maintenance chapter is also clear and carefully written with information on types of backups, detaching and attaching a database, and transaction logs.

The Chapter headings are:
1. SQL Server 2005 Express Overview and Installation
2. SQL Server Management Studio Express
3. Database Design and Creation
4. Security
5. Defining Tables
6. Creating Indexes and Database Diagramming
7. Database Backup, Recovery, and Maintenance
8. Working with the Data
9. Building a View
10. Stored Procedures
11. T-SQL Essentials
12. Advanced T-SQL
13. Triggers
14. Reporting Services

Robin Dewson is a very good teacher with the gift of knowing how to present a concept and then build concept on concept.He also provides helpful tips on things to do and not to do.

... Read more

Product Description
Learn SQL basics quickly with this visual tutorial featuring over 125 graphics SQL (Structured Query Language) is the tool used to access nearly all databases, which means that most software professionals should understand at least the basics. This hands-on tutorial offers an accessible introduction to SQL using over 125 graphics to illustrate the lessons. The book's unique visual approach makes it much easier for the reader to learn SQL. This Second Edition has been updated with new graphics and covers such subjects as the SELECT statement, joins, subqueries, views, granting and revoking privileges, and creating and destroying tables. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (11)

A good primer on Structured Queries for SQL
This book has short chapters and a lot of examples.It is a good "second" book for an Introductory SQL course.

Attention Newbies to SQL - - This is your Book!!!
I am currently enrolled in a Database Management (Oracle/SQL) class at Boston College.Right off the bat, I knew I was in trouble when we were told the professor would be unavailable for help and most of students in class were computer science majors. (I was taking the class to broaden my computer skills above and beyond front-end web design.)

The textbook in class was the heinously monstrous 1200+ page Oracle 9i The Complete Reference by Kevin Loney.After struggling through many chapters and finding our professor's teaching style very unhelpful, I decided it was time for another resource.

I checked on Amazon ... and found Sam's Teach Yourself SQL in 10 minutes to be semi-helpful. Then at the Harvard Coop, I stumbled upon it - - A VISUAL INTRODUCTION TO SQL.The problem, I realized, was that I am a visual learner and need to see all the schema tables and step-by step actions to describe what happens as I develop queries.This books is key for any layman, like myself.It walks you through very basic (and more complex) problems in an easy-to-read visual approach. While using SQL on the PC, viewing the tables is difficult and this book helps you map out the problems to figure them out. I was especially impressed after emailing the author about a table question and getting a personalized response.

If you are in a bind to learn SQL on your own, this book is great and won't kill you lugging it around either.

P.S. A great addition I found to this book was a Mac client software (that can access Oracle Databases) called SQL Grinder.Like the book, this program is also very visual and the GUI (MAC) clearly reigns over any PC. Sorry Windows users! Thanks for your help, David Chappell! ;-)

All the Basics and More
This book doesn't assume that you are familiar with databases or the SQL programming language. It teaches you the programming language step-by-step using a graphic approach.A great way to learn SQL.

Excellent beginners book in SQL
I used this book when I needed to pick up SQL fast.I worked in an organization where I had to build Teradata Data Bases and used SQL to select and move the data.The illustrations really help visualize every aspect of assembling an SQL program and how it interfaces with the data base.I still use it today when I need to be reminded of a particular syntax.Don't loan this book out if you ever want to see it again.I did and now I'm buying another book!

The ONLY SQL book I recommend for beginners
This is a GREAT book for foundation skills in SQL.

I used this book toteach myself SQL when I was "elected" to implement an Oracledatabase system at a former job and have since gone on to become an Oracledeveloper and DBA.The concepts and techniques learned in this book haveserved me well along the way.I have taught Oracle development in atechnical school, and insisted that they use this book in the classroom. The diagrammatic approach to learning about tables, columns, joins and SQLfunctions seems to "click" with everyone who encounters it.

I'm writing this review after buying my ?10th? copy of this book - don'tloan it out if you need to keep your copy. ... Read more

Product Description
This book is now out of print and has been replaced by "Beginning SQL Joes 2 Pros". http://www.amazon.com/Beginning-SQL-Joes-Pros-Hands/dp/143925317X/ref=pd_sim_b_1 ... Read more

Customer Reviews (25)

There is a newer version of this book
There is an updated version of this book. I wouldn't recommend the old version now that the updated version is available. Don't let the change in the title fool you, the link below is to an updated version of this book, not a different book.

Beginning SQL Joes 2 Pros: The SQL Hands-On Guide for Beginners (SQL Exam Prep Series 70-433 Volume 1 of 5) (Sql Design Series)

SQL Server ->Taught the way it should be
I lost my IT job. I wanted to upgrade my skills and learn SQL Server 2008. I stumbled upon the Joes2Pros Videos in You Tube. I came to Amazon and saw everyone that used the Joes2Pros SQL Server 2008 books gave it a 5 rating. Once you start using the book you'll understand why. Its like no other technical book I've ever used.
Each lesson builds your abilities and knowledge from the prior chapters in a very intelligent way. You see the material and do the lessons and you learn. You are writing SQL queries as you go and are not bombarded with technical jargon all at once. If you follow the book and do the exercises as go, you can't help but be be proficient in writing SQL Querys. This is the first of 5 books in a series preparing you for a SQL-Server 2008 certication. This book is kind of a SQL Server 2008 overview that starts from SELECT statements and goes all the way to using DML,DDL,DCL,TCL. I could not recommend it any higher. I've purchased Book 2 of the series which is equally as good. I plan on getting all 5 books and then getting my SQL Server 2008 Developer certification.

Best way to learn T-SQL
Short, concise, and easy-to-read.Gets right to the point teaching basic T-SQL syntax.Downloadable CompanionCD includes lab setup scripts, answer scripts (to the included quizzes), resource files, and even animated PowerPoint files which build code debugging skills on the topics covered in each chapter.This is a well thought-out approach to teaching this language.I would love to see this author take on other languages like VB.NET as well!Very well done.Buy the 2nd book in this series and you'll be a T-SQL pro in no time!

Open This Book Open Your Understanding
Hello, I want to recommend Rick Morelan's Joes 2 Pros teaching aids as a must have in your quest to learn Microsoft SQL server 2008. I am currently a student In a 12 to 36 week Intensive program that teaches business intelligence. Learning SQL in a Microsoft environment is my goal and purpose but the instruction leaves me void of a complete understanding. The pace of the course; as you may already know is extremely fast; this is because most of these programs are set up just to make money off the BI and IT boom and If you are a novice or an enthusiast wanting to learn SQL you'll get swallowed up as the course progress through topics such as recursive queries, pivots, CTE, and the various joins: leaving you confused and frustrated.


Nevertheless, after failing several test in my BI course and after wanting to throw in the towel; I was up late one night contemplating about my next steps and I discovered Rick's Joes2Pros videos on YouTube; they were so clear and concise I knew then that I had to have them If I wanted to be successful in my course; that I already paid 19,000 thousand dollars for. I purchase Rick's DVD's and every one of his teaching aids I found on Amazon and I can tell you that this was the best move I made. If I knew any better I would not have taken the 19,000 Bi classes to learn SQL I would have just purchased Rick's books which are excellent teaching aids that cater to your overall understand of SQL server 2008 in a Microsoft environment. I have been help immenselyI now understandjoins and other concept thatIhad trouble with in my BI course which I now have learned from theJoes2Pros teaching aids; I know you would agree ;if you to made Joes2Pros the center piece of you SQL server collection.

The Best Book to learn SQL
First I want to thank Mr.Rick Morelan for writing such a valuable book, this is a must buy book for those who has no prior knowledge of SQL this book will teach you in step by step process and the best part is Read, View and Do approach with good practical labs.
I can't wait to buy the other SQL books from Joes 2 Pros Series. ... Read more

Product Description
This book is now out of print and has been replaced by "Beginning SQL Joes 2 Pros". http://www.amazon.com/Beginning-SQL-Joes-Pros-Hands/dp/143925317X/ref=pd_sim_b_1 ... Read more

Customer Reviews (25)

There is a newer version of this book
There is an updated version of this book. I wouldn't recommend the old version now that the updated version is available. Don't let the change in the title fool you, the link below is to an updated version of this book, not a different book.

Beginning SQL Joes 2 Pros: The SQL Hands-On Guide for Beginners (SQL Exam Prep Series 70-433 Volume 1 of 5) (Sql Design Series)

SQL Server ->Taught the way it should be
I lost my IT job. I wanted to upgrade my skills and learn SQL Server 2008. I stumbled upon the Joes2Pros Videos in You Tube. I came to Amazon and saw everyone that used the Joes2Pros SQL Server 2008 books gave it a 5 rating. Once you start using the book you'll understand why. Its like no other technical book I've ever used.
Each lesson builds your abilities and knowledge from the prior chapters in a very intelligent way. You see the material and do the lessons and you learn. You are writing SQL queries as you go and are not bombarded with technical jargon all at once. If you follow the book and do the exercises as go, you can't help but be be proficient in writing SQL Querys. This is the first of 5 books in a series preparing you for a SQL-Server 2008 certication. This book is kind of a SQL Server 2008 overview that starts from SELECT statements and goes all the way to using DML,DDL,DCL,TCL. I could not recommend it any higher. I've purchased Book 2 of the series which is equally as good. I plan on getting all 5 books and then getting my SQL Server 2008 Developer certification.

Best way to learn T-SQL
Short, concise, and easy-to-read.Gets right to the point teaching basic T-SQL syntax.Downloadable CompanionCD includes lab setup scripts, answer scripts (to the included quizzes), resource files, and even animated PowerPoint files which build code debugging skills on the topics covered in each chapter.This is a well thought-out approach to teaching this language.I would love to see this author take on other languages like VB.NET as well!Very well done.Buy the 2nd book in this series and you'll be a T-SQL pro in no time!

Open This Book Open Your Understanding
Hello, I want to recommend Rick Morelan's Joes 2 Pros teaching aids as a must have in your quest to learn Microsoft SQL server 2008. I am currently a student In a 12 to 36 week Intensive program that teaches business intelligence. Learning SQL in a Microsoft environment is my goal and purpose but the instruction leaves me void of a complete understanding. The pace of the course; as you may already know is extremely fast; this is because most of these programs are set up just to make money off the BI and IT boom and If you are a novice or an enthusiast wanting to learn SQL you'll get swallowed up as the course progress through topics such as recursive queries, pivots, CTE, and the various joins: leaving you confused and frustrated.


Nevertheless, after failing several test in my BI course and after wanting to throw in the towel; I was up late one night contemplating about my next steps and I discovered Rick's Joes2Pros videos on YouTube; they were so clear and concise I knew then that I had to have them If I wanted to be successful in my course; that I already paid 19,000 thousand dollars for. I purchase Rick's DVD's and every one of his teaching aids I found on Amazon and I can tell you that this was the best move I made. If I knew any better I would not have taken the 19,000 Bi classes to learn SQL I would have just purchased Rick's books which are excellent teaching aids that cater to your overall understand of SQL server 2008 in a Microsoft environment. I have been help immenselyI now understandjoins and other concept thatIhad trouble with in my BI course which I now have learned from theJoes2Pros teaching aids; I know you would agree ;if you to made Joes2Pros the center piece of you SQL server collection.

The Best Book to learn SQL
First I want to thank Mr.Rick Morelan for writing such a valuable book, this is a must buy book for those who has no prior knowledge of SQL this book will teach you in step by step process and the best part is Read, View and Do approach with good practical labs.
I can't wait to buy the other SQL books from Joes 2 Pros Series. ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (12)

Not a good book for learning SQL server (or SQL)
The only reason I bought this book was because it was being used in a class in 2007, the only positive thing I can say is that it was cheap for a textbook.
I saw the absurdly glowing reviews and felt the need to stop anyone else before purchasing the book.

In summary, this book is a complete rehash of one of the authors earlier books covering Oracle.Some of the Questions even mention Oracle instead of SQL server.
There are numerous other better books out there for learning SQL server, that actually
cover the things you need to learn.

Excellent Book
I started reading this book two days ago and i was totally a novice at programming in SQL. I am now writing JOIN statements that i would never have thought possible and i'm looking forward to going even further while reading this book. It is a great book and easy to follow. I highly recommend this book.

Good Intro to Microsofts SQL Server
I gave this book 4 stars as it's not intended for a complete novice to Relational Databases, but it still can you get you up and running.Also the book is laid out in a textbook or coursebook type manner so it can be applicable to a teaching setting and not a bulky bible like many SQL references that are out there.

Workman-like Overview of SQL
I was looking for a book to refresh my SQL skills and settled on Learning SQL on SQL Server after reading the many positive reviews.It sounded like just what I was looking for.My expectations took a downward turn after working through the first few chapters of the book.While the book is technically competent, the way that SQL is presented is lifeless.Working through the book is a trudge with few pleasant stops on the journey.You will learn SQL if you read through the text and work the exercises, but don't expect to have much fun on the way.

Where the beef??
Wow...it is amazing the difference between 2 sites reviews - if you go to O'Reilly's site (yes the publisher) scroed it much lower - you would think you were reading reviews of a different book.This was one of the poorest books I have read in several years - and I really hate saying that as I was *highly* looking forward to this book.

My complaints are:

1. Review questions at the end of each chapter but no answers to the reviews or questions at the end of each chapter - not even online.How do we know if we got them right or not?
2. Huge missing holes of important stuff -- some obvious holes include:
a. Triggers - pretty nice things to know about
b. Procedures
c. Functions (this is about Transact-SQL)
d. Security (at least touch on pre-packaged permission roles)
e. Data locks or anything related to maintaining data integrity
d. error handling

3. Obscure examples that left me scratching my head going "OK, I can see HOW you do this but why would you WANT to?"
4. The phrase "this is beyond the scope of this book" was repeated WAY too many times -- what IS in the scope of the book if not stored procedures and functions, triggers, setting permissions, and other very basic SQL 2005 topics.

There is some good intro to SLQ stuff here well paced and well written -- but it is in NO way money well spent if you are wanting to learn the in's and out's of SQL server 2005.

The back of the book states that it is an "excellent introduction to the SQL language and database concepts" -- but yet the book does not even touch on the subject of database normalization - the very definition of "basic database concept" when talking about RDBS.

I had just finished a "dummies" book that was much more complete and cost half as much.

Just so you know, I don't make a habit of down playing many books -- I love and collect tech books -

I have an extensive library of books (many O'Reilly)
I DID read the entire book cover to cover, while working through the examples in front of my computer

I feel I gave this book a very fair chance and was let down.

Please feel free to correct or address any of my above points if you feel they are in error and I will reconsider this review.

Sorry...but I suggest moving on.

Joe

I only rated it on 1 star instead of two because of the fairly high price.If you can get it cheaper used - go for it... ... Read more

Product Description
Microsoft Access 2000 Developer's Guide to Microsoft SQL Server provides much needed information and guidance for the Access power user or developer who wants to exploit the power of SQL Server. Written by Access experts and Microsoft MVPs Mary Chipman and Andy Baron, this hands-on guide provides you with the practical knowledge you need to harness the enterprise-level power and scalability SQL Server offers, while using the Access tools you are familiar with. More than just a migration guide, you will benefit from the authors' expert discussions of topics including the new Microsoft Database Engine (MSDE), Transact SQL, building stored procedures and views, converting your applications to SQL Server, working with SQL Server security, and building Access interfaces to SQL Server databases. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (13)

Excellent book. Highly recommended!
I've been an Access developer for the past 10 years. Now our company is finally migrating our data over to a SQL 2000 database. This book is an excellent resource for those transitioning from Access to SQL. The information is well thought out, laid out in an easy to use format, supplies good examples, and has a tremendous amount of useful information.

"A 1"
Comprehensive. A good resource to have in the collection of books.

Andre Van Staden - Senior Developer
Marco Giani - Group IT Back end Developer

If I had bought this book first I'd have save a lot of money
I have a lot of SQL server books. Everything from SQL Server 2000 for Dummies up to SQL Server 2000 Stored Procedure Programming. And many times none of these books had what I needed. Then I would turn to this book. I was using VB.Net, so I figured this book wouldn't apply, but I was wrong. Even if you are not using Access, this book explains SQL Server the right way. Chipman and Baron offer simple but thorough explanations and samples of the things you actually need to know as a developer. They don't spend a lot of time on the things a SQL Server DBA might need to know that a coder would not.

Maybe their approach works so well for me because I came from an Access background, but I am willing to bet anyone coming straight from VB and needing to understand Transact SQL, effective stored procedures, funtions, and triggers would appreciate this book as well.

Appears to be an excellent book.
This answers a lot of programmer level questions about using MS-Access with SQL Server.It describes the limits and penalties when going the various routes.The book is quite clear in its descriptions.It would make a good addition to any Access programmer's collection.

One of the best
This is a great book.I have recommended it to coworkers who also purchased the book and they were equally impressed.This helped me have a much greater understanding of both Access and SQL Server and how they work together.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone using Access with SQL Server.It is easy to understand and has plenty of useful code examples.I use this as a reference on a regular basis. ... Read more

Product Description
SQL (Structured Query Language) is the heart of a relational databasemanagement system. Despite SQL's long history and relative simplicity,few developers and database administrators are truly masters of thelanguage. The syntax can be confusing, especially because each vendorenhances SQL in various ways, and each new system release brings with itnew SQL statement options.Oracle SQL: The Essential Reference will keep everyone who needsto access an Oracle database using SQL--developers, DBAs, designers, andmanagers--ahead of the learning curve on standard SQL and Oracle'sextensions to it. This single, concise reference volume will hold itsown against a stack of Oracle manuals and even yield insights andexamples not available in those manuals.There are chapters on basic SQL elements, Data Definition Language (DDL)and Data Manipulation Language (DML), common language elements, SQLfunctions, PL/SQL, SQL*Plus, and Oracle SQL optimization and tuning. Thebook covers Oracle 8i, release 8.1.6. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (8)

Pretty good reference, with some minor issues
likes:
pretty complete on sql statements and functions

dislikes:
why organize it into "data definition" and "data manipulation" sections? Why not just put all the statements in one alphabetically organized section?

missing section on operator precedence (at least, accding to the index. maybe it's in there somewhere)

It's not a "reference" -- it's an "overview" or a "tour"
This book gives a great overview of Oracle's flavor of SQL, and if you already know some other brand's SQL, you'll breeze right through, and have a very good idea of what's new and different in Oracle.You'll be able to sit right down and get to work.

(If, on the other hand, you're a SQL beginner, stop right here.This is not a book for SQL newbies.There is not a chapter with 100 examples of different types of SELECT statements, for example.It is not a tutorial!)

Each chapter covers a different area.For example, chapter 5 is about "SQL Functions".It goes through all the functions, giving you the syntax, a paragraph saying what it does, and then an actual example.Many of the examples are pretty trivial, just a couple of lines, but the ones in the PL/SQL chapter have some meaningful code to illustrate things like the LOOP statement, which is nice.

But.When you come back after the weekend and want to look something up, you'll be banging your head against the wall, because the index on this thing is sorely lacking.Just now I spent ten minutes trying to look up %TYPE, and had to leaf through the book before finding it on page 266.Very annoying.O'Reilly should know better: an "essential" part of any "reference" book is a kick-ass index.

I give it five stars for content and one star for lack of meaningful index, for an overall rating of three stars.Maybe in the next release they'll get it right.(Speaking of which: this book is (c)2000 and covers up to Oracle 8i.)

It's a SQL REFERENCE, dummy!
I have found this book to be an invaluable reference to SQL, PL/SQL, and SQL*Plus syntax and usage.The previous review by Kevin McCormick seems to entirely miss the point of an Essential Reference - it is not intended to teach SQL concepts, and the introduction clearly states this.The book is well organized with exactly the information needed to write a particular statement.The examples are simple and to the point - I don't need a complex example; just something to show me what the statement should look like (for example, to show me that an argument should be a string and not a number).I bought two copies: one for the office and one for home.The book is as close to indispensible as you can get.I only hope the author is planning an update to Oracle 9!

Shame! Shame! Shame!
I was a programmer/analyst having used SQL and Oracle for some time, who was very much interested in adding a good SQL text to my IT reference library. My primary SQL reference at that time was the "Oracle Complete Reference" from Oracle Press. I had excellent success with O'reilly Oracle books in the past and thus purchased Oracle SQL.
I cant believe some of the basic SQL concepts that are omitted from this book!! The concept of a table alias, the Oracle DUAL table, SQL statements that accept a single value vs a list - not even mentioned in this book!! An entire text book on the single subject of SQL should be thorough! By thorough I mean cover in good detail the introductory concepts as well as the advanced.
O'reilly has excellent books published on the subjects of PL/SQL and SQL*Plus. Why does this author skimp on SQL concepts and waste chapters on these subjects that I'm not interested in!!! I usually find the O'reilly books preferable to the one's from Oracle Press. Not in the case of SQL!

Overrated

I have to disagree with the other reviewers and say that this book is overrated. It's one of those books where it's often hard to find the information and you end up looking elsewhere.

To start off with, the index is not the greatest. Try looking up "ORDER BY". It's only mentioned in the index as one item in an EXPLAIN PLAN command. In general, I found the examples they use to be only bare bones examples. It would be nice to see some more complex SQL.

On the plus side, the book seems fairly free of errors and a lot of information is packed into the pages. There's not a whole lot of writing but you shouldn't be expecting that given that it's an "essential reference".

This isn't a bad book per se. However, it's been on my desk for nearly a year and I just don't find myself using it much. ... Read more

Product Description
Written by a team of expert SQL users, this comprehensive resource approaches performance tuning from a new perspective by showing you a methodical scientific approach to diagnose performance problems. The book first walks you through how to discover bottlenecks when something is wrong and you’ll then learn how to identify and remove the problems that are causing poor performance. You’ll discover preventive measures you can take to try to avoid a performance problem entirely and you’ll learn how to achieve better performance. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (8)

A great book and still very relevant
Although this book appears to be specific to SQL Server 2005, it's not. The techniques and tools are still extremely relevant to current and future versions of SQL Server. Whether you are a database administrator who handles performance issues on a daily basis or a developer building a database application, this book should be on your desk. The authors have a deep understanding of how to make your database server an efficient, stable system. Their ability to explain complex issues and provide relevant solutions makes this a must-have book.

Complete Guide to Performance Issues
I was impressed with the contents of this book. For people who wants to know about the performance issues then this book covers it all. The chapters on locking and troubleshooting resembles daily work related issues and scenarios.

If i were to recommend anything to this will be some performance scripts that can be run together to collect and analyze stats on a regular basis.

Nevertheless the best and only book available for performance tuning in SQL server

Anup

Comprehensive, Practical and Informative!!!!
From my experience with SQL Server and Oracle for the last 15 years of my IT experience, Database Performance tuning is more of an art and science (even though the book says it is more of a science). As SQL Server transformed into different versions, the information to gather performance related data matrix improved. Hence, the quest for ways to get information on how to troubleshoot performance problems in SQL Server grew.

I have referred many books on SQL Server Performance Tuning, but most of the books I have referred provided generic information and go on describing mundane performance tuning methods such as SQL Profiler, Execution Plan and Performance Logs without any examples to refer or try with. I did not find many books that deal with performance tuning concepts from ground up. This book defines the performance tuning concepts from ground up and also describes the "how and what" data point to gather, measure and analyze to troubleshoot the performance problems.

Book starts with good introduction to the basic concepts of Performance Tuning in a methodical approach. It defines how to understand a problem statement, how to go about solving those problems and how to prevent it from occurring. The book goes about all facets of performance tuning such as Server and database tuning, SQL tuning, creating a workload for creating a performance benchmark, system tuning for memory, processor and storage.

I liked the chapters dealing with SQL Server Wait types, Tuning Indexes, Tuning Schema and Capturing, Measuring and Replying workloads.
Like any other book, it has some shortcomings too. For instance there are some typos and which can easily be caught if you understand the subject in the chapter.

So I will suggest if you are an experience DBA or a DBA who wants to get into Performance Tuning (a good line to be in!!), please add this book to your cart!!!!(no.. I was not paid to write this!!)

Good & Practical Advice
This book presents the reader with a good overview of features, including their trade-offs.It's a good read if you're looking for practical advice on how to implement/configure vs. what's possible to implement/configure.Additionally, it doesn't simply present separate topics in isolation, but connects them so that the reader has a clear understanding regarding how different features and implementation choices interact.

Comprehensive guide to SQL Server
I came looking for this book to provide background information for the MCTS exam on SQL Server maintainence and also how to write faster T-SQL queries. I was not disapointed.

I am only about half way thru, but many of the topics covered appear on the exam, and go into sufficient depth and detail that I was at least enlightened and felt I learned something pratical. Performance monitoring, analyzing deadlocks and indexes, best practices, hardware configuration and how to write good queries are all covered.

The book amounts to a collection of white paper type articles by each of the authors. Each chapter stood by itself on the topic it covered, and would refer the reader to the apporprate pages when more information would be needed. While not bad in and of itself, the format was inconsistant between chapters, so it fell a little short as a tutorial.

Granted, how you find the is book may depend on your own experience level. For me it was neither boring or confusing. I found it enlighting.
... Read more

Product Description
Prepares students for the first exam in both the Oracle DBA and Internet Application Developer Certification Tracks, and offers a solid general understanding of Oracle9i SQL. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

GREAT!!!
One of the best IT books I've ever read. Well written, the hands-on assignments are highly useful for learning Oracle SQL. I strongly recommend Oracle9i SQL by Lannes Morris-Murphy.

Good Stuff
What can I say? I didn't know anything at all about Oracle. I read the book while taking the class with her at Troy University. I then took and passed the exam on the first try. Good stuff!

Joey Powell
Enterprise AL USA

Clear, Coherent lay out
This book is very good.I don't usually write any reviews for textbook.However, I have to tell you that this book is great for studying Oracle SQL.The book is written is a very oganized lay out.After reading form cover to cover, you should be thoroughly ready to take Oracle exam.

A Personal Recommendation
I am a student of Dr. Morris-Murphy at Valencia Community College in Orlando Florida. I am currently studing for my Oracle DataBase Admisistration Certification with the Doctor. This, her first book matches the style of her presentation of PL/SQL in class; clear, precise and simple to understand. After reviewing this book and comparing it to the notes I took during her class I highly recommend that anybody from DBA's to DBD's to students starting their studies in Oracle9i to those who are preparing for the PL/SQL certification test should have this book sitting right next to their PL/SQL Sybex book. In fact I recommend very strongly that anybody who is in the field of Oracle9i should have a copy of this book on their shelf for quick reference. ... Read more

Product Description
"Tired of pubs and Northwind? Tired of books that just lie there? This book will engage you interactively with its sample Asset tracking database and end-of-chapter exercises. You'll learn by doing."--Karen Watterson, Editor, Pinnacle Publishing's SQL Server Professional

"Finally! This book dedicated to T-SQL Stored Procedure development is long overdue...a must have for the developer who is serious about creating powerful and scalable SQL Server 2000 architectures."--Ed Musters, Chief Technology Officer, Sage Information Consultants, Inc. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (57)

Great Reference
This is one to keep readily handy if you need a reference for MS T-SQL 2000.

In particular, I found it's coverage of error handling and transactions very useful.

well written
The book is well written with many good samples.I use it whenever I get in a bind on Stored Proc programming.The only problem is that, unlike other publishers (Wrox), there is no available code samples online.One great thing about Wrox books is that if I want to see a sample work, I don't have to retype the whole thing.This publisher should work on that feature.

a good book that gives a lot of info
I've learnt a lot from this book

Truly excellent - I use it daily.
This is one of the clearest, most useful programming books I have ever run across in 18 years of programming!If you are doing anything more than writing simple queries, get this book.Highly useful for those developing ADO.NET SQL Server applications, because it covers all the nuances of SQL stored procedures and triggers that you'll want behind your ADO.NET apps.Also covers the differences between SQL 7 and 2000 clearly, and goes into automating administrative tasks via T-SQL, including the Windows registry.Has a good introduction to SQL XML.

Great Book!!!!!
The best thing about this book is that the author explains why you should do certain things.It explains how SQL Server works to process your request.This is the best SQL book I have read. ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (12)

Excellent Book
Great book, excellent explanation, covering the very advanced usage and power of Stored Procedures capability in order to bring greater efficiency of application.
Very clear style of writing, good examples with a detail explanation.
Definitely recommended book.

Much more than expected
This book clearly covers stored procedure programming well.Of course, it goes over basic syntax and provides examples, but it also goes much farther than that.This book discusses optimization of MySQL queries regardless of the use - in or out of sprocs.It also did a very nice job of discussing the use of cursors - the ability to iterate through the results of a query without being pelted with the entire result set all at once.

If you're developing on MySQL 5 or greater, and you're serious about letting the database handle things that make sense (i.e. denormalization, administration, and putting business logic into the database), this is an excellent resource.

Hit(s):

o Thorough coverage of
- o stored procedures
- o functions
- o triggers
- o cursors
o Explains stored procedure optimization very well
o Serves as stored procedure cookbook
o Excellent coverage of stored procedure best practices
o Demonstrates use of stored procedures with languages like PHP, Perl, Java, and others.

Miss(es):

o Title doesn't do it justice.

the first and only Mysql stored procedure book
This is the first and only book about Mysql stored procedured and since it was written by the query tuning guru Guy Harrison, it also includes nice tips on query tuning. Highly recommended, just be forewarn that this is for advance Mysql developers or DBA only. Also, be aware that Mysql stored procedure as of release 5.0 and 5.1 won't buy you much performancesince Mysql parse stored procedures scripts every time it run unlike other RDBMS like Oracle and MSSQL. If you want better performance,you should make use of prepared statements inside a stored procedure.

MySQL Stored Procedures, In Depth
I have been working with MySQL for several years as a database back-end for Java, Ruby and C# programming projects. After upgrading to version 5, I have been meaning to look into MySQL's support for stored procedures.

The MySQL Stored Procedure Programming book was my first read on the subject and I found it quite useful. It covers not only stored procedures, but also functions and triggers, collectively called 'stored programs' in the book. While there are many books on MySQL, this book is dedicated to the stored programs domain and provides a lengthy treatment of the subject.

During the introduction, the authors provide a veritable laundry list of MySQL resources including many books and websites. The basic tools for creating stored programs in MySQL are visited and help set the groundwork for a 'read, type in the example and run it' feedback loop. Throughout the book, the examples are clear and easy to follow.

The introduction is followed by a brief tutorial, highlighting stored procedures, functions and triggers. What follows is two sections of chapters, over 200 pages in length, diving into the details of the stored procedure language fundamentals, blocks, conditional statements, iterative programming, error handling, the creation and maintenance of stored programs, transaction management, MySQL built-in functions, stored functions and triggers.

The next section of the book is of particular value to software developers that use MySQL in their applications. Over 150 pages showing you how to use MySQL stored programs from PHP, Java, Perl, Python and .NET. The Java section even shows the basics of using stored procedures with Hibernate and Spring.

After that, you'll be greeted with a 110 page medley of options to help you optimize your MySQL stored programs. The subject of tuning your SQL is addressed over the course of three chapters, from basic through advanced tuning topics. Additional optimization techniques such as reducing network traffic with stored programs, optimizing loops, recursion, cursors, trigger overhead and more are found in the final chapter of this section.

The book closes out with a chapter on best practices in MySQL stored program development. MySQL Stored Procedure Programming has earned a space on the MySQL shelf of my technical library. It's a fine book that will help you take your MySQL programming experience to another level.

MySQL Stored Procedure Programming
The good:I found to book to be generally useful. The approach the book takes is good. Lots of examples are provided along with a good amount of explanation.


The not-so-good:There seem to be quality or editorial issues with some of the examples. When I run them through the query browser in MySQL version 5 I have problems with some of them. For example Example 2-7 calls another procedure new_salary, which doesn't seem to exist by that name in the book or on the website. This makes it much more time consuming for a newbie to actually run and digest the examples than it should. ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (3)

For some shops, THE book you need
I'm at odds with the first two reviewers, but I think it depends on what you're looking for. This book is NOT about classical tuning.Classical tuning is "tune the server", and "tune the query".

The emphasis - in the preface and the excellent Chapter 6 - is that the real gains are usually elsewhere, when you have older code.

I work with a 25 year heritage of fairly well written apps.Many of them have the described situation - a single query that's been broken into two or more parts, with an outer loop and (at least one) inner loop.When server memories were 64K, or 1 Meg, or 4 Meg, and CPU's only came in packages of 1, and disk channels were slow, and networks were slower, this was often the only practical way to get a result.

The interplay changed over the years, but the old code worked.In the past few years, with 64-bit processors, cheap 64-CPU servers, and multi-io disk channels, a wierd thing happened.We found that moving to newer systems and faster hardware made things run SLOWER.

The answer time and again was in those "split loop queries".If we turned them back into one big query - the kind that you couldn't run before, we would see performance improvements of hundreds or thousands of times.In the end, the math proved - on powerful machines, most of the overhead is sending the query, compiling it, and sending it back.If one monster query takes a full second, but every query in the loop takes 1/4 second - if that inner loop runs 1000 times, you lose.

Meantime, that 64-core machine has every CPU working full blast - recompiling the same stupid statement over and over!The problem is, you try to tell this to a developer, they don't beleive you "I didn't change anything in the code".

And that's what this book is about.Changing the code.This book validates what I've been trying to tell my managers and coders; I am grateful to Faoult and L'Hermite for showing I was not making this up myself.

The second reviewer is just reading the wrong book for whatever it is they are trying to do.

This is an essential book for certain people, and is certainly of no interest whatsoever for others.(If you don't own a 1941 Plymouth, the 1941 Plymouth manual isn't much use - otherwise, it's a must).

Its the context that counts
Faroult and Hermite focus their attention on relatively classical SQL optimizations. The gist of their advice is that developers running SQL code need to leverage the database engine's optimizer. To do that, they offer relatively common advice: use set operations, avoiding procedural code in your sql code whenever possible; minimize the number of visits to a table; and minimize the number of times your code has to scan a given table. Most of the content of the book is spent offering techniques for achieving these objectives. For developers without a lot of experience writing SQL intensive applications, the authors provide a relatively accessible discussion of these techniques.

Outside of that, the authors include a chapter called `Testing Framework' that addresses one of the key requirements of any refactoring effort: creating and maintaining a library of unit tests that allows us to prove that our code is correct. When writing database code, and particular code whose performance may vary based on the amount of data being processed, unit testing can be a bit of a challenge due to the typical case where developers are developing locally on databases that contain small data sets. In this chapter Faroult and Hermite offer some data generation techniques and some mechanisms for automating the comparison of resulting outputs.

What I like about this book is that unlike books on optimizing the performance of a particular database product, this book tries to elevate the discussion to the level of optimizing the performance of an application that contains a substantial amount of realistic database code. It should enable developers to analyze their code in the context of the business objectives that it is trying to fulfill, rather than the context of the database engine in which it is executing. For that reason alone, I am recommending it to the database developers on my team.

Too much focus on performance tuning
Performance tuning of a database application is a minor part of refactoring a SQL application.In 2008, many programmers found themselves inheriting large applications running on thousands of stored procedures written in PL-SQL, TSQL - great stuff during the hey days of client-server programming era circa the 80s and 90s.For those who are looking for a book to help with the re-design, re-plumbingi.e. refactoring of SQL applications, this book will not help much.

Much of this book is focused on the issue of tuning data model, tuning SQL queries etcWith the current server processing power, caching, bit-mapped indices, and a plethora of SQL tuning tools, performance tuning is no longer such a major concern in a SQL refactoring project.

If you are looking for discussion on building unit tests, building wrapper, sprout, identification of seams etc, you should look else where.

... Read more

Product Description
Once you know the basics of the SQL language, it's time to take the next step toward specialization: query writing! All objects in SQL support the need to get data in and out of databases, and writing queries is the key to capturing the data you want. "SQL Queries Joes 2 Pros" shows you a proven roadmap that has helped many beginning SQL students get their certifications and launch their careers. If you want to get ready for MCTS certification, this is the second book of the Joes 2 Pros series.This book is totally focused on providing a fun, hands-on experience as it evolves your basic SQL skills and amps up your level of query writing expertise. This is Volume II of the Joes 2 Pros certification track designed to prepare you for the 70-433 SQL 2008 exam. If you are a total beginner, we recommend you first become familiar with the material in the "Beginning SQL Joes 2 Pros." ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

ramesh
Little information for the no.of pages but very good in the way they presented it. Loved it and recommend for a starter.

fast way
Once I finished book 1 i couldn't stop. He makes sql fun.I have finished this one as well.
I have been albe to answer all of the interview quetions with easy. I can't wait for the rest of the series ....Hurry plz!!!
I have found a C# series as well by the same groupIntroduction to C# Joes 2 Pros
So many of the jobs I looked at suggested having C# experience. So when i found this book I was relieved!
makes it very easy once again.

Complete your T-SQL learning experience!
This book picks up where the first book left off.The first book takes a measured approach to the basic syntax of T-SQL DDL, DML, DCL, and TCL.The first chapter in book 2 reviews what was covered in book 1, and then continues on more advanced topics.The same thoughtful, easy-to-read and practical approach to learning is used.You won't find better T-SQL training anywhere.So, whether you are learning the language for the first time, a pro who is just "brushing up" for an interview, or just need a ready reference, this two book series is a "must" for your bookshelf.

In All That Getting get An Understanding
Hello, I want to recommend Rick Morelan's Joes 2 Pros teaching aids as a must have in your quest to learn Microsoft SQL server 2008. I am currently a student In a 12 to 36 week Intensive program that teaches business intelligence. Learning SQL in a Microsoft environment is my goal and purpose but the instruction leaves me void of a complete understanding. The pace of the course; as you may already know is extremely fast; this is because most of these programs are set up just to make money off the BI and IT boom and If you are a novice or an enthusiast wanting to learn SQL you'll get swallowed up as the course progress through topics such as recursive queries, pivots, CTE, and the various joins: leaving you confused and frustrated.

Nevertheless, after failing several test in my BI course and after wanting to throw in the towel; I was up late one night contemplating about my next steps and I discovered Rick's Joes2Pros videos on YouTube; they were so clear and concise I knew then that I had to have them If I wanted to be successful in my course; that I already paid 19,000 thousand dollars for. I purchase Rick's DVD's and every one of his teaching aids I found on Amazon and I can tell you that this was the best move I made. If I knew any better I would not have taken the 19,000 Bi classes to learn SQL I would have just purchased Rick's books which are excellent teaching aids that cater to your overall understand of SQL server 2008 in a Microsoft environment. I have been help immenselyI now understandjoins and other concept thatIhad trouble with in my BI course which I now have learned from theJoes2Pros teaching aids; I know you would agree ;if you to made Joes2Pros the center piece of you SQL server collection.

A great buy for learning SQLand SQL Querying
I have taken several SQL classes and looked up tutorials online.Most left me confused and less than satisfied.This book and the previous volume filled the void.They teach at the appropriate pace with easy to understand examples and exercises.Without it, I would have struggled needlessly in my classes.I highly recommend this book for anyone who is a beginner and wants or needs to have a good understanding of SQL. SQL Queries Joes 2 Pros: SQL Query Techniques For Microsoft SQL Server 2008, Volume 2 ... Read more