Introducing Microsoft SQL Server(tm) 2005 for Developers

by Peter Debetta

Describes the programming enhancements of Microsoft SQL Server 2005, covering such topics as T-SQL, XML support, security, Microsoft ADO.NET, and HTTP Endpoints. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 073561962X
• ISBN13: 9780735619623
• Release Date: November 2004
• Publisher: Microsoft Press
• Length: 243 Pages
• Weight: 1.21 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 7.4" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

SQL Reference

The book rocks. I found almost all that I needed easily. I give it "4 stars" instead of 5 only because it didn't have EVERYTHING I needed.

Good Introduction to Concepts Book

This book delivers exactly what it promised, introductions to new concepts in SQL Server 2005, with a decent and easy to read writing style. From what I can see, DeBetta has written about T-SQL and SQL Server since 1998 (Microsoft SQL Server 6.5 Programming Unleashed). I was surprised to see a couple of recent reviews on this book that rated it poorly because it was either "obsolete already" or "for beginners only". From what I see, the book was published over one year ago on a beta topic. At the time of its release, the code worked using the beta software that was available at the time. Many changes have been made to the product since then, and obviously much of the code has become obsolete. I would think that anyone buying a book on beta software would know this to be the case. The book even has a disclaimer stating this fact. The book is touted as introductory. If the book had been more in depth about a product with a changing code base, most anyone could see that its code samples would have been even more inaccurate as time went by. From what I see, the book was meant to introduce developers to the new features and concepts of SQL Server 2005 and specifically not to be a detailed tome of code. And being that the book is less than 250 pages, I would think others would see that, too. Even the description states things such as "Get a developer-focused introduction" and "With introductory-level code samples". As it should be obvious by now, the book was not meant for experienced SQL Server people who wanted to step up to the new product, but rather, for those people who have always avoided database development concepts, which many developers tend to do. Surprisingly enough, many developers do not truly understand database concepts such as indexes. If people are giving poor reviews to this book based primarily on the fact that it is "obsolete already" or "for beginners only", they need to do a little more research before buying things. Even a cursory examination of this book's description would deter any qualified experienced database developers from buying it because it is indeed an introductory book. "Why would anyone publish a book about a beta version of a product?" Because some people want to be know what's coming down the road. The book was released over a year ago. For those who purchased it in the last month or so, they should know that its code samples will be inaccurate. I can't imagine anyone purchasing this book under the pretense that he/she would get a deep course in database development, especially since the book description clearly states it will not do that. It just seems to me to be a bit trite to give a good book an abominable review because someone didn't do their homework before buying it.

Solid introductory book on SQL Server 2005

This book is a solid intro to SQL Server 2005. My only problem with this book is that author really focused on some topics and had almost nothing to say on others. For instance, Ch. 3 on XML was very detailed and included plenty of examples to learn from. On the other hand, other topics like DTS and Reporting were glossed over at best. Overall, this is a good intro to using SQL Server 2005 new features and it does make me want to buy a more advanced book. However, I would have liked to have seen a little more consistency in the amount of detail for the various topics.

For Developers

As it's obvious from the title, the book lists new improvements for programmers, not what become available to database administrators. It doesn't cover a lot of enhancements to enterprise data management in the following areas: high availability technologies, additional backup and restore capabilities, and replication enhancements; scalability advancements such as table partitioning, snapshot isolation; database encryption, and an enhanced security model; new management tool suite. Programmers will find what was added to SQL language: ranking functions like Row_Number, Rank, Dense_Rank, NTile; new data types; the specific use of WITH clause; SOME, ANY and ALL operators; EXCEPT and INTERSECT set operators; PIVOT to create a cross-tab table; exception handling by TRY...CATCH; and other additions to SQL. A big chapter is devoted to XML integration. You will also find a lot of information about Common Language Runtime (CLR) Integration, the ability to develop database objects using any .NET language. Other object models and services are also covered: data transformation services, server management objects, native HTTP SOAP, notification services and reporting services. You will also find out about the SQL Server Service Broker, distributed asynchronous application framework for new levels of scalability.

Very Early Book, Based on Beta Software

There's about to be a new version of SQL Server. This book, based on the June 2004 beta level software, gives you the first detailed look at the new features coming in SQL Server 2005. While some features are likely to change before the final software is released, the broad view as given here is likely to remain pretty fixed. By this stage in the development of the new version, these points are well along. This book does not pretend to be a book on SQL Server, it is intended for the knowledgeable SQL Server user and covers only those points that have been changed for the new version. From what I can see, the big changes in 2005 are in Security, XML processing, and mirroring. Most of the other things, a few additions to T-SQL, some enhancement of notification and reporting services are included. Then again, I'm looking at it from what I do, you may find that you consider other features to be the most important. Knowing what those are is what this book is all about. It's certainly a timely book, now is when you need to start planning for the new release.